New York City Friends: Season 1
by JonathanMagic
Summary: After a divorce with her husband; Michelle continues to keep the friendship with her ex-husband, which brings many emotional problems, but how on earth can she handle the feelings and obstacles? While some have a complicated love-life, others have no love-life at all; Ashley is a hopeless romantic, Candice is a married woman who often feels lonely, and Torrie is just a sweet girl.
1. A New York Welcoming

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 1: A New York Welcoming**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**There I found myself again; walking down Manhattan as I thought about my worries, all while doing it fabulously of course... except this time, I don't think I had many worries, but I'm positive somebody on this street did.**_

In her black _Marc New York _fur coat, Michelle walks down the busy New York sidewalk- But before crossing the street, she first looks to her left and then to her right, she then runs across the street, trying hard to keep her hair out of her face and trying hard to run in her light-pink heels as she rushes through everybody.

_**I observe people and I observe the world, because I like to tell stories, I try hard to tell them right at least.**_

Michelle looks in front of her; Where she sees a couple, friends or not, one is female and the other is male. On the other side of the two possible friends, is a married couple who continue arguing through the streets.

_**I see myself in both of those couples, I was best friends with my ex-husband... I still am in fact, but we also had our fighting days while being married, hence the word 'ex'. I'm not saying anything I don't know, I just like to relate to certain things, through my experiences of course, New York is too big of a City to be guessing around, you either know the story or you don't.**_

A group of girl-friends walk by Michelle, Michelle turns around and watches the group of girls walk away.

_**And a few stories I do know, are those of my fabulous friends.**_

* * *

"I can not believe you are living with your ex-husband, it's honestly abnormal to me, how do you do it," Candice says, taking a sip from her drink.

_**That's Candice; A Wisconsin born woman, who moved here to New York in 1999, which is when I met her, but when I met her, she wasn't nearly as glamorous. Unlike us single girls, Candice is married to lawyer Wade Barrett; the two have a 12 year old son, named Brooklyn. And although she is 40 year's old, she can surely pull off the 30 year old look well. And although she is also a caring mother; she rarely shows her personal feelings and emotions, but she is never one who hides her opinions or feelings about a certain topic, even if it hurts your feelings, some call it being a bitch, but we call it being 'Candice' with a little too much honesty. She just never holds back, even if it's a little too provocative or controversial, she's not afraid to get a little sexual sometimes.**_

Michelle shakes her head, "It's not abnormal Candice, nothing about it is, it's just two friends living together, simple as that," Michelle states, while pouring dressing onto her salad.

Torrie puts her hand on Michelle's arm, "Well I believe you, but maybe you guys will one day love each other again, maybe the divorce was just a mistake, I never imagined you guys would end up getting a divorce," Torrie admits to Michelle, with her hand still on Michelle's arm.

_**Now that's Torrie; A small town girl, who was born in Staten Island, but she somehow made her way to the big city, with her blonde locks and her sharp writing skills for a magazine column, she surely made her mark here. Being the youngest out of all of us, 29 years old, she has managed to keep up with our ridiculous moments. She is as sweet as pie, and yes as cheesy as that may sound, which is how Torrie sometimes is; She's cheesy, but only because of her high hopes for love. Because the girl, more than anything else, believes in love, Which is how I met her; she was on a date, when I accidentally dropped my plate of pasta on her, which was back in 2008. Ever since then, I've only seen the innocent good-girl persona out of her; her heart is bigger than this island.**_

"I love you Torrie, but do you not hear yourself, you're saying maybe too much, Our whole marriage was one big maybe, but our friendship is a positive, we were best friends before we got married and we remain best friends afterwards, which I enjoy," Michelle reassures them, with a smile on her face.

Ashley randomly starts laughing, "All divorced women dream about having a peaceful divorce, but me on the other hand, I am willing to go through a messy divorce, as long as I can say I've at least been married once... I mean what's a girl got to do around here to find herself a man," Ashley says as she laughs.

_**And that my friends, is Ashley; A 35 year old woman who can surely wow you with her bold unique fashion style, and who knew that back in 2004, when I complimented one of her outfit's, we would end up becoming close friends. But when it comes to love, she is just one big hopeless romantic, who at this point doesn't even look for it anymore. But Ashley has her sense of humor, which is what I love the most about her, she always knows how to make one laugh. She keeps her head up by painting and photographing, which is what she does for a living, but her tough skin also helps her keep her head up, but being born in Brooklyn and all, that tough skin is her childhood that prepared her well. She's always misunderstood, often even feeling like a fool, but nobody will ever understand the complex personality's of Ashley.**_

"Ashley, you're a lovely girl, I'm sure you'll find somebody," Torrie says giving Ashley a smile.

Michelle nods in agreement, while she eats her salad.

"Well luckily, some women don't have to worry about being divorced at all," Candice says, referring to her 'perfect' marriage.

* * *

**_So there I was, actually going out of my way, to help my ex-husband. But why does that sound so crazy to some people, he's my friend, I still care for him and I still want to help him, why is it so hard for people to believe that... Plus I honestly also want him to move out by the end of the month, but I'm not going to pressure him into moving into some terrible apartment, I want him to be safe and comfortable wherever he does end up moving._**

Michelle takes her black fur coat off and throws it onto the nearby couch, "I'm here," Michelle says to Mark, as she walks over to the kitchen.

Michelle takes out a fork and walks over to Mark, "Because I know that you suck with Chopsticks," Michelle jokingly says, while carrying a box of Chinese food for Mark.

"Thank you, Michelle you know me so well," Mark says sarcastically, as the two laugh.

Michelle joins him on the other side of the couch, "I also brought a list of apartments, although they are more on the lower side of New York, I think you'll love them," Michelle says handing Mark the list of apartments.

Before getting the chance to even lift up his fork, Mark takes the listing and reads over it for one short second, "Can I go over it later, If you don't mind," Mark says and then putting the list down.

"Mark, do you even want to move, because it's fine if you just want to be roommate's, this whole divorce happened fast and it's not fair that you're the one who has to move out," Michelle comfortingly says to Mark, waiting for him to respond.

Mark turns to Michelle, "No, it's not that, I just want to be positive that I'll find the right place. It's hard looking sometimes, but if we did become roommates, I would be fine with that too," Mark says with a smile.

Michelle nods to him, "Which is why I'm trying to help you as much, but just know that if you aren't able to find a place, you're always welcome here," Michelle says leaning her head on Mark's shoulder.

* * *

**_But unlike Mark, Torrie already had a small-decent apartment in the Lower East Side and she was about to find another one in The Bronx... except for reasons she wasn't expecting. Torrie blindly agreed to join the guy she recently met for a date at his apartment, but the guy had a very different idea, the guy who doesn't even deserve to be given a name.  
_**

"Okay, here we are," The guy says walking Torrie into his apartment.

Torrie looks around, "I see you have a lot of movies, maybe we could watch something," Torrie innocently says, about to start walking to them.

But the guy grabs her arm and pulls her in for a kiss, Torrie lights up; surprised in every which way.

But her heart was just about to get shattered after the guy placed his hands on her butt, squeezing like none other.

Torrie jumps up, "What are you doing," Torrie shockingly yells, shoving him away.

"What else... wait, why'd you even come up here, I don't know what you want, but I thought you were here for sex," The black-haired guy foolishly says, grabbing her again.

Torrie again pushes him off, "Eww, No, we've only been seeing each other for like 3 days," Torrie says, pulling away from him.

"Exactly, I was a gentleman to lay off the sex for a couple of nights, but come on, let's go," The horny guy says, while already walking towards his bedroom.

Torrie fixes her hair and grabs her stuff, "I did not want this, you are disgusting and I am looking for more than just this," Torrie informs his clueless mind, followed by her quickly opening the door to walk away.

* * *

_**While a single woman was getting all of the possible attention from random strangers, on the other side of New York, a whole different story was taking place. A married woman was being ignored by her own husband; A married woman who wouldn't mind getting a little checked out or sex'ed up by the man she married.**_

Candice stands in her kitchen, next to her husband, who seems to have no idea she's even there.

She leans over to get the small container of sugar and she begins to open it; slowly, so that her husband could maybe finally acknowledge her presence.

But unfortunately for Candice, she is left looking like a fool because he moves and walks right out of that kitchen, not with Candice, but with his little glass of wine.

Candice watches him walk away, she turns away and just like he did to her; she ignores her own feelings and she simply brushes the pain off, pretending all of this never happened.

But the way she stirs her cup of mid-day coffee, tells another story, because she is stirring that small cup of coffee to the point of it even spilling over onto the counter.

* * *

_**And just when Torrie thought the sexual appetite from men was over, she again walked into it, but in this case... well, she just walked.**_

After experiencing a disappointing let-down from yet another man, Torrie quickly hails a nearby taxi from the top of the staircase.

Torrie waits to see if the Taxi stopped for her and it luckily did, but while walking towards it, she notices a guy on one side of the corner, a guy who definitely also notices her.

A guy who just won't stop staring, so Torrie turns around and looks directly at him, hoping that then he could finally look away.

The guy however continues to stare at Torrie, secretly un-dressing her in his dirty imagination, but Torrie knows exactly that that's what he's doing.

So Torrie quickly turns around and jumps into the Taxi Cab, hoping that the Cab-driver is at least a woman or a gay man.

She looks back through the window where the guy is still somehow staring right through the thick glass window, even winking at her with that same-old stupid arrogant smile she's seen a million times.

_**And Torrie never again stepped foot on that neighborhood, neither did she ever again wear that red dress; a dress she loved so much, the men apparently did too, but for a whole different reason.**_

* * *

_**And later that evening over at Park Avenue, Candice was again ignored by her husband, this time however, she was completely left in the dark by him.**_

Candice stands by the doorway, while watching Wade get dressed up, she finally speaks, "Well you're dressed up nice, where are you going," Candice says to her husband, who stands there sharply dressed and looking at himself in the mirror.

Wade adjusts his tie and then turns to Candice, "I have a late-night meeting at work and after that I will most likely go out with a couple of friends," Wade says, plain and simple, not giving Candice any further information.

Candice doesn't second-think anything, she instead walks over to him, "A guys night out, huh," Candice says running her hands on his back.

Wade again walks off and leaves Candice hanging, "Actually some of the guys are bringing their wive's, but you know," Wade explains, but little does he know how much he's unconsciously hurting Candice.

Candice's fake grin quickly turns into a frown, "Oh," Candice says, plain and simple too, except the word had much more feelings and emotions behind it... more than all of Wade's sentences put together that is.

Wade sprays himself with cologne and then walks towards the door, "Well off I go, bye honey," Wade says walking out of there Park Avenue penthouse, with no thoughts about how Candice might be feeling.

Candice stays there, with the door wide open as she waves, "Bye," Candice yells to her husband, but the 'bye' quickly fades into a miserable moan.

_**A moan Candice finds herself making a lot lately, sadly that moan is never a sexual one.**_

* * *

_**Unlike Candice, who was spending her evening alone, Ashley on the other hand was spending it with several people. But Ashley didn't want to be there; Earlier her mom had invited her to a small party she was hosting at a nearby Manhattan hotel, but Ashley knew exactly what was going to come out of it, something she wasn't looking for, yet everybody else seemed to be offering to her... which was love.**_

"Ashley, this is Tasha's son, I saw him and I thought of you, because the both of you are just single, but ready to mingle," Sable playfully tells her daughter.

Ashley puts her hand on her face, "Mother, I think I'm fine, but thanks," Ashley embarrassingly says, not even bothering to turn around to look at the guy.

Sable grabs Ashley and almost forces her to look at him, "You will do as I say, now say hi to the man, you're being rude," Sable forcibly asserts, waiting for Ashley to introduce herself.

"Hi I'm Ashley, a photographer and an artist, I also own an art gallery over at Brooklyn, so I pretty much live for art," Ashley says to the guy, who rather looks younger than what Ashley expected him to be.

Meanwhile Sable tugs on her arm from the other side, "Ashley, honey, we don't want to intimidate the poor man, tone it down a little," Sable whispers into Ashley's ear.

The young man stays quite, he doesn't know how to follow with a respond, "I'm Todd, I am currently un-employed, but I at least still live with my mom, which is good support," Todd, the young guy, boringly says.

Ashley scratches her head and thinks of a way to slip out of the conversation, without appearing rude, "Nice, how old are you... Todd," Ashley asks him, already angry at her mother for doing this to her again.

"I'm 18, but I carry myself like a 25 year old, right...," Todd questions for a little reassurance, but before Todd can continue, Ashley get's up to walk away.

Ashley reaches her hand out for him to shake it, "Todd, I'm so sorry to leave you, but I actually have somewhere to be, nice meeting you though," Ashley kindly says, while shaking the man's hand to at least show some kindness.

Sable quickly grabs her hand and stops her, "Mother, let go of me," Ashley says, forcing herself out of her mother's grip.

"Ashley Marie Massaro, Don't you dare walk out," Sable yells from the table.

* * *

_**Candice's marriage is one of the all time greatest mysteries, because you either take what little you hear or you either sit around and wonder about it, but even if you do get little knowledge about her marriage... it's usually one big glamorized lie told by Candice herself.**_

Later that night, Candice found herself walking back and forth her kitchen, while she gossiped and lied with one of her friends on the phone, "Wade isn't like that at all, I'm so blessed to have him, but I feel bad for her, hopefully she can one day find her place with him," Candice says to her friend on the phone.

Right in the middle of that cheap sentence, Candice's son, Brooklyn walked into the kitchen. He rolled his eyes and let out a sarcastic chuckle, because unlike the woman on the phone, he actually knew the truth- That his mother is lying right through her plastic-injected lips.

Candice catches the reaction on his face and she hears his little laugh, so she quickly turns to him and she gives him the famous 'Shut-It' finger; the universal finger-sign used by all mom's, at one point or another.

* * *

_**But before Ashley had the chance to escape, a guy catched her by surprise; the guy happens to be yet another guy who Ashley's mom has previously also tried to set her up with in the past.**_

Ashley continues to speed-walk, she looks back for a second to check if her mother is following her steps, but her mother is no where to be seen, so Ashley slows her pace down.

And just when Ashley thought the humiliation was over, it sadly came back around when a certain guy recognized her bold memorable style, "Hey, is that Ashley," The two guys from the bar say.

Ashley turns around to see who it could possibly be, she looks directly at them and then quickly looks back away, with a disappointed expression on her face.

"That's Sable's daughter, I went on a date with her, well I was sort of forced to," The guy says to the other, knowing very well that his voice can easily be heard all around the lobby.

Ashley's face instantaneously turns red, "How great," Ashley whispers to herself, not even bothering to turn around again, but instead she pushes the door for an even more dramatic exit.

_**Ashley walked all the way home with her black non-designer combat boots, but she sure walked in those boots as if they were high-end designer shoes. And not only did she not need a Taxi-Cab that night, but she also didn't need a man or her mother's pity help for that matter.**_

* * *

_**And back home, I was enjoying my simple peaceful night, something that came very rarely, not only to New Yorker's, but to all people around the world.**_

Michelle lies in bed, looking up at the ceiling, with her arms on her chest as she listens to her friend Mark talk on about his day.

After talking for minutes, Mark turns to Michelle, "Am I annoying you, I could stop if you want me to," Mark doubtfully questions, even though he loves the fact that Michelle is taking a second to just listen.

Michelle laughs, "No, go on, I enjoy hearing your day-to-day life stories," Michelle says, also loving the fact that Mark is taking a second to just talk.

So Mark carries on with his stories, one story led to another and soon she was sharing too, it was the best damn conversation they've had since their divorce, which happened back in November.

_**And all I did that night; was lay around and listen to Mark's story of the day, but my story of the day would have to be the one about me simply talking with a friend, a friend who was once my husband.**_

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Wade Barrett, Brooklyn Barrett, and Sable.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan Nunez**

**Published On February 6, 2015.**


	2. Desperate Women or Desperate Woman

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 2: Desperate Woman or Desperate Women**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**On a regular New York City afternoon, Torrie sat down at one of her favorite bars in The Big Apple, hoping to somehow find love that way. Although that made Torrie sound extremely desperate, it quite frankly was true, but Torrie could care less if she was being desperate or not, she just wanted some old fashioned love.**_

Torrie looks to her left when she suddenly sees a guy smile at her, Torrie kindly smiles back and then looks away.

The guy decides to make a move, so he gets up and joins Torrie at her table, "May I sit here," The guy says waiting for Torrie's response.

Torrie looks at him, "Sure, I've been waiting for somebody to finally notice me," Torrie says to the man, laughing as she strokes her hair.

"Well I'm here to make that all up to you," The guy says handing Torrie an extra drink he brought, just in case.

Torrie reaches over for it, "Thanks, by the way I'm Torrie, and you are?," Torrie asks, hoping this is the start of a new blossoming love story.

_**But before Torrie can even get a name, the guy turns around and compliments another woman walking by, by then it's already too late for her to still care about his name. He's just become another random guy drinking in a random bar.**_

Torrie waits for him to finish checking her out, she sits back after realizing he's just going to continue to stare.

"What were you saying again, something about your name, it's Tiffany... right?" The guy says, totally screwing his chances up.

Torrie rolls her eyes and without saying a word, she gives him a sarcastic smile and get's up to leave.

_**And Torrie learned that men can defitnely be desperate too... especially for sex.**_

* * *

_**While Torrie was trying to find a possible love, Ashley on the other hand was trying to avoid a possible love.**_

Ashley stands there at the door staring at her mom and at the guy she again is probably trying to set her up with, "Well, are you gonna let us in or not," Sable says, waiting for her daughter to somehow forget about the last party's mess.

Ashley moves from the door, as a gesture to invite them to come in, "So kind of you," Sable says sarcastically.

Ashley stays their quietly, still upset about last night's incident, "Look I'm sorry, I'm sorry about everything that happened at the party, I was so wrong, anyways I came to tell you that Tasha's son still wants to give you a chance... isn't that great?," Sable says grabbing Ashley and forcing her to move towards the young 18 year old boy.

_**And just like Ashley expected, her mother's apology wasn't sincere at all, but what else can she expect from a Brooklyn-Grown woman. Because honey, Brooklyn woman don't play, but apparently Ashley's Brooklyn mother wanted her to play, because after all... she did bring home a young 18 year old 'little boy' for Ashley to play with... again.**_

Ashley gives the 'Todd' guy a friendly smile, "Hi, I'm so sorry about my stubborn mother, you're probably really uncomfortable right now, I'm so sorry for you," Ashley says to the young man, patting him on the shoulder.

"It's fine, I like my women older, but it's hard to find a hot lonely sad woman around here... I mean their's a lot, but they all hide it pretty good with their stone-cold facial expressions," The young man says, not realizing he just offended both Ashley and Sable.

Sable gasps while Ashley laughs, "Okay thanks for coming," Sable says walking him out of Ashley's Manhattan loft.

"Oh come on, it was a joke," he says laughing all the way to the cab.

Ashley stands their, again not pleased with what her mother tried to pull off, but the attempt surely made her laugh.

"I swear, I did not know... Oh come on, I just don't want you to die alone," Sable says getting a glass of wine for herself.

Ashley pulls out another glass for herself, "Mother, I am fine, why can't believe that," Ashley says, reminding herself how not so-bad she is doing for herself by drinking that high-class expensive wine of her's.

* * *

_**And a few hours later, Ashley would learn that she was more desperate than what she thought she was, her and Torrie for that matter.**_

"Can you believe my mother, she actually tried to set me up with another young unemployed guy," Ashley says, still upset over the recent incidents.

Candice puts her hand on Ashley's arm, "Oh honey, that is just... Oh, how awful, I mean when setting somebody up, you have to think in levels, because trust me their's levels and the young unemployed guy level... Oh honey, well that's just the lowest kind of level, but don't worry I don't see you being that desperate," Candice says as she takes a bite from her Chocalate dessert.

"Well I did hear about this single's recruiting meeting, It's happening in a week from now, maybe you should sign up for that," Michelle says handing Ashley the pamphlet she was given at the door.

Ashley looks at it, "Nice cover picture, It's a couple being all happy," Ashley says laughing sarcastically, "I mean, that's not realistic, at least not for me," Ashley says handing the pamphlet back to Michelle.

_**A few minutes later, Torrie bursts through the door, with movie-like snow all over her hair, but with no movie-like boyfriend.**_

"Oh my gosh, Torrie, here have a seat," Michelle says making room for Torrie.

Without saying a word, sweet Torrie is now just angry Torrie, "I tried so hard to find love," Torrie says taking her polka dot trench-coat off.

"Apparently it's 2015 and nobody finds love in bars anymore, nobody finds love anywhere, unless it's through some dating app for freaks," Torrie says picking snow out of her blonde hair.

Candice grabs the pamphlet from Michelle and throws it over to Torrie, "You need this, it's where desperate singles go, and Ashley I'm not going to lie, you better join her," Candice says taking yet another bite from her dessert.

Torrie looks over the pamphlet, "You know what, sign me up," Torrie says, still keeping her hopes up.

_**Both Torrie and Ashley were about to do what no other set of New York women would ever do, which was to agree on something, but they were also going to do something a set of New York women were already used to, which was to actually just go for it.**_

Ashley pushes it away and right when she does that, all three girls stare at her, so Ashley again re-thinks about it, "Why not, I guess I'll go if you're going," Ashley says to Torrie.

Michelle gives Ashley a smile, she then turns to Candice, "So Candice, anything going on with you," Michelle says, wondering if 'perfect' Candice is at all going through anything.

Candice continues to eat, "No, nothing at all," Candice says, finally droping her fork and putting her dessert down. "In fact, I better get going, later tonight I have a date with Wade," Candice says putting on her beige _Gucci_ coat to walk out.

**_But I can't blame Candice, because I honestly didn't want them to bring up the fact, that I'm also single. But I'm still, technically, not ready to go out into the dating world, not yet._**

* * *

_**But the only real thing in that whole sentence was... well nothing, the only actual real thing was that Gucci coat.**_

Candice walks over to Wade, kissing him on the cheek when she finally get's over to him, "Don't forget, our dinner reservation will be in a couple of hours," Candice says smiling, because she finally get's a romantic night, where Wade is actually her's.

"Candice, I don't know, I kind of never agreed to this, notifying me days prior to the actual date would've been helpful," Wade says going through his office work on the kitchen table.

"Well, I did notify you earlier this week, maybe if you would just stop ignoring me, then maybe we wouldn't have to be arguing about this," Candice says, feeling a rush of fury go through her body, a fury that she has to try to keep calm.

Wade puts his hand on his face"Maybe this is the reason why we never have dates, because all you want to do is argue," Wade says.

Candice rolls her eyes, "It's impossible to argue with a wall that constantly ignores what you say, maybe that's why I'm going crazy, because I try to talk to walls, like you," She says, walking away, quickly after that rant.

Wade laughs sarcastically again, "Just give it a break," Wade says, going back to his paper-work.

**_And once again, he completely ignored her inner-emptiness; he can't seem to hear her calling for help. But maybe that's what makes Candice desperate, her need for his help, which is an acceptable type of desperateness. _**

* * *

**_And later that snowy day, my desperate thoughts would begin to re-surface._**

"So which lamp do you prefer, I still don't know which one I like better," Michelle says staring at two similar olive-green lamps... with different designs on them.

Mark looks back and forth, he then laughs and looks at Michelle, "They look exactly the same to me, I'll give you the honour to pick which one ever you prefer," Mark says, taking a seat on a nearby couch.

"Ugh I don't know," Michelle says, also sitting right next to Mark on the couch.

_**After a couple of minutes of observing the two lamps... and yes, I do take decor-shopping that seriously. Anyways a few minutes went by, when we somehow suddenly started talking with another couple, a married and much younger couple that is.**_

"Wow, so you guys seriously sky-dived the day after your wedding," Mark says to the couple, fascinated with them.

The wife and husband both look at eachother, they laugh for a short second, "It was the best, we are actually hoping to go bungee-jumping this weekend, but the best weekend so far, has to be the one where we gave birth to our little prince, and guess what we did the day after that," The married man says to Michelle and Mark.

Mark stands their waiting attentively, but Michelle on the other hand, well she's heard enough.

"Let me guess, did you guys drive the whole jet this time... and then dive off," Michelle says sarcastically.

The couple laugh again, "No silly, we climbed Mount Everest, I had to fight through that," The woman says to Michelle.

Michelle laughs along, after realizing, that she sure is giving the nice couple some unnecessary attitude.

**_I was embarrassed, throughout that whole conversation, I was being completely rude. But maybe I was upset with my own personal feelings, feelings that somehow started to show up again, I was taking it out on this young happy couple._**

* * *

_**While Ashley strutted her stuff across the kitchen, she noticed a note on the counter, a note her stubborn mother had earlier left.**_

Ashley walks back after noticing the folded piece of paper, she picks it up and opens it up.

She chuckles as soon as she reads the first part, she quickly tears it up and throws it in the trash, without even taking a second look.

Soon enough, she completely forgets about the silly attempt to set her up, that her mother yet again planned.

**_Apparently_**_** Ashley's mom found a new way to set her up, and that's through little sticky notes with guy's numbers on them.**_

* * *

_**But having your mom simply trying to help you out, is way better, than having nobody, which is how Candice found herself, yet again.**_

Candice stands in front of the large window, where the night-view of Manhattan is breath-taking, but she sadly has no one to share that breath-taking view with.

After taking a good look at the City's view, Candice finally turns around and closes the curtains to call it a night.

She lifts up the silky bed sheets and she slips her way in bed, but soon enough the minutes turn into hours; hours where Candice still can't find herself sleeping.

Meanwhile her husband remains working on the kitchen table, eventually falling asleep their, without at all worrying about his wife's loneliness.

_**Candice and Wade slept so close to each other, yet so far away from each other. But Mark and I were far from sleeping, in fact we were still walking the night-streets of New York.**_

* * *

_**And while walking the streets, I decided to finally speak what was on my mind.**_

Michelle and Mark walk silently, when Michelle finally breaks the long silence, "Can I ask you something," Michelle says, Mark nods yes to her, but Michelle waits a second to get her many thoughts collected into a sentence.

She finally turns to Mark, "Do you regret anything from our time of being together," Michelle asks, wondering if Mark at all feels the same way she feels about their marriage.

"Hell no, our marriage was a special time," Mark says to Michelle, apparently feeling different about the past marriage, than how Michelle feels about it.

_**And I didn't know whether or not I should continue with this conversation, but I did anyways.**_

Michelle again stays quite, but finally her mouth drops a few more words, "The only reason why I asked you, was because I feel like, like we could've done so much more in those 5 years of us being married, I mean come to think about it, I don't think we even have an interesting story to tell about our whole time together," Michelle says.

Mark laughs, "What are you talking about, we can still do things like sky-diving and climb-rocking... we don't have to be married for us to do those things, if that's what you mean," Mark says, a little hurt with the in-difference of feelings between him and his ex-wife, because he enjoyed those married days, but apparently she didn't.

_**I was again going to run with my next few lines for this conversation, but I couldn't possibly go that much further.**_

"Anything else you have to lay on the table, or is that it," Mark says, knowing that she isn't the only one with hidden feelings and emotions, that are still fresh in the heart.

Michelle again opens her mouth, "Well, no, never-mind, nothing, how about that movie," Michelle says, re-locking her secrets and regrets.

"Sounds good to me," Mark says, relieved that the conversation about regrets can finally end, because unlike she, he can never un-lock such deep feelings.

Arm in Arm, Michelle and Mark walk off into the dark streets, for a friendly night of adventure.

_**That night I kept my true desires to myself; a particular secret I would never share with anybody, a particular regret I will always hold close to my heart. But that particular night, is a night I will never regret, because we had a spectacular time.**_

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Sable, Brooklyn Barrett, Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, and Wade Barrett.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan Nunez**

**Published On February 13, 2015.**


	3. Girl Power

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 3: Girl Power**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**'Working on a Saturday morning'- is probably a sentence nobody wants to hear, but not me, at least not always. I love my job, I can actually say that 'I live for fashion', because I do, literally, I make a living out of it, and I'm living in it. Anyways that morning I had a meeting with a local Manhattan fashion designer, who wanted me to review some of her fashion pieces for my website.**_

"Okay, well I'll give my honest opinion on these, as soon as I get a good detailed look at them," Michelle says to the lady, as she goes through the white rack of clothes.

The lady smiles with excitement, "Thank you, it means so much, I know it's unprofessional to blur this out, but the check will most likely come this following week, I promise," The fashion designer says, with her _Guess _purse on one arm and a 5 month old baby on the other.

Michelle counts the number of clothing pieces on the rack as she marks them down on her clipboard, she then notices the Fashion Designer, who also happens to be a mother, walks away to Michelle's office couch, where she goes to put her baby down for a quick rest.

_**Bringing up money is too awkward for me, but bringing your 5 month old baby to a meeting is even more awkward... and the unprofessional part wasn't the money, but the baby. However I thought it was adorable, I thought she was the perfect embodiment of a woman; Maternal, Hard-Working, and Fashionable. Which is more, than I can ever say about myself, at least when it comes to the Maternal part.**_

Michelle smiles and nods, "It's fine, anyways, I'll start taking pictures and I'll start trying the clothes, don't worry, I won't destroy them," Michelle says, trying to ignore the baby in the room, without being rude.

The lady looks down at her small tablet, where the busy woman keeps her calender up to check, "Any who, I wanted you to know, that I will also be sponsoring your website, for the following two weeks, if you don't have any sponsors coming in that is, it'll benefit your profit and it'll benefit my label," The lady says, taking a pen and paper out, so that she could write which two weeks she will be taking.

Michelle smiles with her hands in the air, "Yay, I'll start writing a 'Thank You Email' to your company right now," Michelle says clapping her hands together, when suddenly the baby decides to join her clapping celebration from the corner of the room.

_**I couldn't help it, but I had to acknowledge the baby's presence in that moment, it was appropriate. Plus I don't think I've ever made contact with any baby, in a long time, it's like I'm avoiding the cute creatures.**_

Michelle looks at the baby, "How adorable, look at that smile," Michelle says, the baby fills Michelle with joy, the fantasy type of joy.

The lady looks at her baby, "Isn't she adorable, the light of my life," The lady says, hugging her precious baby.

Michelle can't help but to stare at the connection of a mother and her baby girl, "Aww, Well you're blessed, because not every woman has a little one to hold," Michelle says giving the lady a smile.

_**The lady was something out of this world, but her baby was something I would never imagine having in this world... Or did I? Even if I did happen to have that secret desire, I would never tell anybody, especially not Mark.**_

* * *

_**That morning Candice was setting up the dinner table, for her guests that were going to arrive later that evening.**_

Candice goes through her closet, where a dreamland awaits her. She goes through all of her designer dresses, when her _Bottega Veneta _red dress catches her eye, she takes it out and lays it on the bed, for her to wear that evening.

_**But the dress, wasn't what got Candice excited for the night, it was the fact that her husband was actually getting ready for Candice's party.**_

She watches her husband pick out his tie and matching blazer, "Oooh, that's nice, I like it," Candice says about the matching red pieces, which happen to match Candice's picked out dress.

Wade looks back at her, but he doesn't say anything, instead he oddly walks off to the bathroom.

But Candice ignores it, she instead continues to prepare for the dinner party, by then picking out her son's outfit for the night.

* * *

_**Ashley and Torrie had other things they were preparing for, which was the singles recruiting meeting. Something that sounded extremely ridiculous, yet they were taking it seriously, at least Torrie was.**_

"Were here, it's official, we've become this desperate," Ashley says looking around the room of singles, meanwhile Torrie has her sight on one special looking man.

Meanwhile Ashley continues to look around, still not sure who the heck she is interested in, "This is sad, I mean look at us, trapped in a room with a bunch of set-up singles, It's the loser club," Ashley says, already giving up on the men in the room.

But Torrie sees it differently, "Well I call it the potential future lovers club, now come on let's go sign in," Torrie says, still keeping her sight on that same special looking guy.

_**While signing in, the minutes go by, and those minutes change everything up, because the guy Torrie was interested in; is now talking to somebody else.**_

"Great," Torrie says, not knowing who to go to now, almost everybody is already taken.

_**Torrie was left to wander around the room, still not giving up on the possible chance of meeting someone. When out of no where, a gentleman approached her, a gentleman who was just about to take Torrie's breath away.**_

Torrie moves near a darker corner of the room, a corner that almost seems V.I.P, "For crying out loud, Someone please get the lovely woman a seat," The man exclaims out loud.

She ignores the compliment, only because she isn't sure that the compliment is even for her. She however realizes that the 'lovely woman' is her, when the man get's up and pulls a chair for her.

Torrie is impressed with his confidence, "Thank you," Torrie says, smiling to him, has she finally found a gentleman?

* * *

_**While some were meeting new ones, I was helping out old ones. Mark finally found an apartment that he actually was interested in, so I gladly wanted to support him, by going with him to look at the place.**_

Michelle and Mark walk into the living room, "So, do you like it, because I actually really like it for you," Michelle says, observing every detail of the apartment.

"I love it so far," Mark says walking into the single room of the apartment.

The Realtor finally get's off the phone, she walks back in and notices Michelle's high observation, "It's small, but It's okay, if you want me to be completely honest with you, I think that you guys would be perfect here, but if you're planning on having a kid with him someday, well here wouldn't be the ideal place... honestly," The Realtor woman says, waiting for Michelle to respond.

_**I didn't know what to say, I didn't want to tell her that we were divorced and that what she just mentioned was impossible, but I would rather have her imagine whatever cute love story she wanted to.**_

Michelle turns to the Realtor, "Were not dating, were just friends," Michelle says, with no further explanation.

_**But damn, I was again left thinking. Is it possible, that everybody else sees it, without me even noticing it. How can they though, a baby isn't an accessory that would fit me well, I can't imagine ever having one. It just wouldn't fit.**_

* * *

After minutes of talking, Ashley accidentally brings up the topic of 'breakups', when the guy she's talking to, starts to sting up with past unresolved pain.

"So, What do I do, How do I win her love again?" The guy says to Ashley.

Ashley raises her eyebrows, "Dude, if you're not over her... then why are you here," Ashley says to the broken-hearted man.

He sits their and begins to bang his fists on the table, "Julie, Oh Julie, Why...," The man yells, scaring the crap out of Ashley.

Ashley grabs her chest, "Okay, Wow, Look... Just go home and call her, apologize to her," Ashley says to the overly-obsessed hurt man.

The heart-broken man looks up at Ashley with tears in his eyes, "You know what, I'm going to do that," The man says, he grabs Ashley's hand and kisses it, "Thank You so much mam," The man says as he takes off, faster than ever.

_**So their sat Ashley, alone, in a room full of singles, Ashley couldn't even talk to one, which just made Ashley feel even more pathetic.**_

* * *

_**A little over an hour later, I met with Ashley, who wasn't quite happy... with a lot of things at this point.**_

"So how did the whole single recruitment go, give me the details," Michelle says, kicking the snow around.

Ashley crosses her arms, "Horrible, I thought I found someone great, until he ended up leaving me, wait for it... for his ex, can you believe that," Ashley says, still upset with the whole situation.

Michelle puts her arm on Ashley's shoulder, "I'm sorry about that, but hey you might bump into somebody at Candice's dinner party," Michelle says as she takes a bite from her Ice-Cream cone.

Ashley shakes her head, "Do you mind, just not trying to help me out as much," Ashley says to her friend, who she's making her sound out to be the enemy.

Michelle takes her arm off Ashley and turns to her, "Ashley, honey, I'm not trying to run your life, I'm just trying to help you, I hate seeing you alone," Michelle says, hoping Ashley knows the reasoning behind Michelle's actions.

"Everybody pity's me, do you know how pathetic people make me feel, it's like nobody believes that I can actually walk alone, I don't need anybody, in fact, I'm done looking right now, so please, just don't try to get involved in my love life, as of now, I am done," Ashley says.

"Okay, I'm done, but I want you to know, that I'll be here for you, if you ever do need my help," Michelle says, hoping the argument can finally end.

Ashley smiles, "Thank you, anyways, moving on," Ashley says, awkwardly finding a way to lighten things up.

"Okay, Anyways, Candice is sort of waiting for us, so we better hurry to her place," Michelle says, "Do you know how crazy I look, I'm eating Ice Cream, while it's snowing and cold," Michelle says laughing as she leans her head on Ashley's shoulder.

"What the hell, I get that you like to match your outfits, but matching your food to the weather, now that's just crazy, even for me," Ashley says, as the two laugh, the girls continue to laugh along as they walk their way to Candice's penthouse.

* * *

_**And back at the 'Single's Recruiting' place; Torrie was having the time of her life.**_

Torrie continues to laugh at the man's jokes, although they're cheesy at times, they sure get the best of Torrie. She suddenly forgets about time and she doesn't realize how long it's been since she's been sitting their, with the man, talking and clicking well with him.

She looks down at her phone, to check on the time, which has sneaked up on her, "Oh wow, It's getting late, I have to go now, I kind of had to be somewhere," Torrie says to Brock, which is the man who finally isn't just another man to Torrie.

"No, don't go, we had such an amazing time," Brock says.

Torrie get's up, also hating the fact that she has to leave, "I'm sorry, I hate this, but we can continue this some other time," Torrie says, looking through her purse for a pen and for a piece of paper.

But before she can even give him her number, he reaches first and hands her his number, "Here, you should call this number sometime," Brock says, also getting up from his seat.

Torrie smiles, she watches as he walks over to help her up, "Thank you," Torrie says, giving him a hug.

"Bye," Torrie says, hoping he stops her, because she doesn't want him to meet another, especially in a room full of other potential singles.

"Hey, by the way, I'm also leaving, it would probably be more convenient, for us to leave at the same time," Brock says, picking up his stuff as he rushes over to Torrie.

Torrie smiles again, her heart is happier than ever, "Sounds perfectly fine with me," Torrie says, waiting for him to get to her.

He smiles and grabs Torrie by the hand, the two walk to his private car and they take off, calling it a night.

_**Who on earth is Brock Lesnar, you might ask? Brock is the guy Torrie just met, but he's a real known man around the City- He's older, but like Chanel No. 5, he remains timeless. He's a very wealthy man, who's been married a couple of times, but his last marriage was back in 2002, which was a highly publicized marriage. But little does Torrie know about his high profile, all the girl wants is some good old fashioned love... literally, I guess.**_

* * *

_**Finally, after a long day, I was about to enjoy my evening at Candice's dinner party.**_

Michelle and Ashley continue to converse, as they walk down the halls of the Penthouse building where Candice lives, "I remember, Her door is somewhere around here," Michellle says looking at all the fancy door numbers.

_**While Ashley and I were looking for Candice's place, Candice herself was about to run into a problem, that she didn't see coming.**_

"What are you doing, Honey I told you my friends would be over, I thought you were going to stay in tonight," Candice says watching her husband cologne himself, as he approaches the bedroom door.

Wade turns around, "I'm only going out for about two hours, I'll be back in time to join you for your dinner party," Wade says, with his hand on the door-knob.

"No, you can't me leave me, that's so rude, I had this planned and you knew, you can't cut me off like that, you always do this Wade," Candice yells, running after him.

Wade continues walking, without even bothering to turn around.

But Candice on the other hand, does bother, she even runs after him and stands in front of him, "Wade, stop, the guests will be here any minute, you can't do this, you always do this and I'm done with brushing it off, this time, I'm putting a stop to it," Candice yells, blocking Wade from walking into the living room, where the front door awaits anybody to walk in or out of their Manhattan place.

Wade grunts out loud, "Candice, move the hell away, I have to go, if I leave now, I can get back here earlier," Wade yells back.

_**And right when the mess was about to take place, the front doorman let us in. Which I wish he hadn't, because boy was it awkward.**_

"Thank you so much," Michelle and Ashley say to the doorman, as they step inside the penthouse, which is when they over-hear the argument.

Candice hears Ashley and Michelle's voice, she also hears the door closing and begins to panic.

She stays quite, but she still stays in front of Wade's way, "Don't you dare go out tonight, please," Candice whispers to Wade, but Wade pushes her aside.

Candice slips on her dress and hits the wall, which makes an ugly sound, Candice quickly picks herself up and again runs after him.

But Candice is too late, "Hello girls, nice to see you, Candice over here is just a little embarrassed that we're actually arguing in front of you," Wade says to Michelle and Ashley as he shakes their hands.

Michelle and Ashley smile, without saying anything, they don't know what to say.

Candice stays their, listening from the hallway, "Oh screw you Wade," Candice yells from the hallway, but her humiliation leads her back to her room.

"Well it was nice seeing you girls, have a great one," Wade says walking out the door, with no worries about how his wife might be doing.

_**I felt terrible, Candice did too, because she stayed in her room, all locked up, for approximately 3 hours.**_

* * *

_**But Torrie, was about to unlock her little apartment and invite Brock in; it wasn't a fancy Manhattan Penthouse like Candice's, but it was alright for her. And for that night, it was also alright for Brock.**_

Torrie and Brock, still holding hands, walk down the Lower-Side of New York, where Torrie lives.

Torrie stops and points to her apartment door, "This would be me," Torrie says, walking up to the door, so that she could open it.

She runs back to Brock and she gives him a hug, "Thank you by the way," Torrie says, hugging him.

Brock watches her walk away, "Well, call that number, because I don't want this to end as one-date thing," Brock says as he too walks away.

Torrie stands by her door, "I will," Torrie says, watching him walk further away, but right in that moment, Torrie feels something, something that makes her stop him.

"Wait," Torrie yells from her door, Brock turns around and Torrie smiles, "Do you maybe, want to come in, and stay the night," Torrie says to Brock.

She waits by her door, and Brock finally joins her at her front steps, the two walk in and they close the door behind them.

_**The two spent their night together at Torrie's place, which Torrie told everybody the next morning, but she also mentioned that the two didn't have sex, which is how Torrie wanted it to go.**_

* * *

_**And on the other side of New York, Candice found herself spending a night full of tears and humiliation. After she had locked herself in her bedroom for hours, Wade finally arrived back, but by then all of the invited guests had already been their, which included most of Wade's family members anyways.**_

Ashley taps Michelle in the shoulder, "How do you think Candice is doing," Ashley whispers to Michelle.

Michelle puts down her drink, "I don't know, but it's been too long, I think we should go over their and check up on her," Michelle says, stretching her back, to look down the hallway, where Candice's bedroom door lies in the far back-end.

"I don't think she want's anybody in their," Ashley whispers to Michelle, so the two stay their.

Minutes later however, Michelle and Ashley over-hear Wade's loud mouth, "Candice get's a little crazy sometimes, I honestly believe that she's secretly a witch," Wade says to his sister and her husband, as they all laugh.

Michelle turns to Ashley, with a gasp on her face, "Unbelievable, were going now," Michelle whispers, putting down her glass of wine.

The two walk off, but Ashley quickly picks up a glass of wine, knowing Candice will need a glass.

_**We both knew what we were doing, we knew that we had to help a friend out, because unlike them, we knew who Candice was; she's the type of girl, that could make a comeback after a nasty incident.**_

Michelle and Ashley finally get to the bedroom door, they both pause and wait to see if they could hear any noise coming from the room.

They hear a sniffling sound from within, they both look at each other and at the same time, they decide to knock on the door.

The two wait their, with no one responding, they know they have to let Candice know, who's behind the door, "Candice, honey, it's Ashley, and Michelle," Ashley whispers through the door, trying to keep her voice quite, so that the guests don't hear her from the living room.

After a few seconds, Candice finally let's them in, "I want to be alone right now," Candice says, with her body on the floor.

Michelle runs to Candice and she kneels next to her, Ashley closes the door quietly and also joins them on the floor.

_**Soon enough, we were able to get Candice back on her feet, afterwards we spent the time in her bedroom; going through all of her beauty supplies and clothes as we talked on, it was our own little party. But finally, we were able to get Candice out of her bedroom... and as a trio team, we stepped out and enjoyed the rest of the evening, an evening where Candice killed everybody with her strong head, which she held high up that night.**_

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Wade Barrett, Brock Lesnar, and Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan Nunez**

**Published On February 22, 2015.**


	4. A Crazy Sexxx Night

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 4: A Crazy Sexxx Night**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**A strong Woman, still living her life; which is how Candice would describe herself. But would it be that crazy to forgive Wade, because lately Candice has been ignoring him, the same way he's always ignored her, but is forgiving really a weakness.**_

On a sunny morning, Candice walks down the street, with an angry mind; an angry mind that right now hates Wade.

When all of a sudden, she bumps into a homeless person, "I'm sorry, here's a little something," Candice says, handing him a 5 dollar bill.

But what the homeless man has to give to her, is even more helpful, "Make sure, you live your life right, forgive and love," The homeless man tells Candice, as he raises his cardboard sign even higher up.

The exact same thing he told her, is printed on the cardboard sign; '_Live your life right, forgive and love.'_

Candice stops in the chaos of every New Yorker walking by in such a rush, but she on the other hand just stays their for a minute.

She finally walks away, when it hits her, that forgiving wouldn't be such a bad thing for her to actually consider.

* * *

"So, how are you doing," Ashley says to Candice.

Candice shakes her head, "Well we haven't been talking, but I'm fine," Candice says to both Torrie and Ashley.

Torrie reaches her hand out and she puts it on Candice's arm, "Well, don't give up, you can't give up on love, theirs a way you guys could get back on track," Torrie says to Candice.

Candice rolls her eyes, "Torrie, I really don't appreciate your advice, it's inappropriate, especially since you weren't even their that night, so I suggest you to stay out of this," Candice blurs out to sweet Torrie.

Torrie just sits their, with her cheeks burning red, Ashley also sits their quietly, trying hard to stay out of this one.

_**The girls continue to eat, quietly, but Ashley decides to take on the role of breaking the fragile ice, so she talks on to both girls, going back and forth with her eye contact; sometimes talking to Torrie and other times to Candice.**_

Torrie finally looks over at Candice, she stops herself, but she finally decides to talk, "Candice, can I just say, that I am terribly sorry for not making it to your dinner party, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way, anyways, you were saying Ashley...," Torrie says, letting Ashley continue, because Torrie knows very well that Candice will not forgive her within this brunch.

But surprisingly, she's wrong, "Look Torrie, It's fine, I just felt like it was a bit too early for you to speak, that's all," Candice says.

Torrie smiles, but she doesn't speak a word, because this time she wants to stay out of it.

Ashley on the other hand does speak, "Gosh, I feel like I'm the only one moving my mouth around here, who else has something to talk about," Ashley says, waiting for either of them to talk.

Inside, Torrie has so much to share, but she knows that it would be inappropriate to talk about her and Brock; due to Candice's rocky marriage and Ashley's lonely single life, so again she stays quite.

Candice sighs heavily as she throws her head back, "I hate forgiving, I hate feelings and emotions, but should I just forgive him," Candice says to the girls, now actually willing to hear out their advice, even Torrie's.

"Yeah, sure, except things will go back to how they used to be, he'll again think that he can just step all over you and your feelings, he'll ignore you again," Ashley says, not afraid to give her an honest opinion about the situation.

Candice turns to Ashley, "But I feel so bad for him, it's like now that I'm ignoring him, he seems so much more miserable," Candice says, taking a sip from her soft-drink.

Torrie can't help it, but to also share her input, "Well, at least you care about his feelings, now if you care emotionally, shouldn't you also care physically, try doing something," Torrie says.

"I know, but it's like now that he doesn't have me, is the time he wants me and the time he notices my absence," Candice says, actually opening up for once.

"I was going to tell you to continue ignoring him, but maybe what you can do instead, is maybe sexually entertain him, like a burlesque show, but for his eyes only, that way he'll want you and you won't have to be ignoring him for him to want you," Ashley says; the loveless woman in the room, also happens to be the most creative woman in the room.

_**Candice forgets about that over-the-top idea, but the woman quickly changes her mind, because she quite frankly is ready to forgive and hopefully rebuild her marriage.**_

* * *

_**And I spent my Sunday morning, helping another friend out; Mark. Earlier that weekend, on Friday, he had told me about a small party he wanted to throw, for a surprise announcement he wanted to make to some of his friends. So their I was helping him out, still not knowing what the surprise announcement could possibly be.**_

Michelle walks in, with party decorations, but behind her, Mark walks in with packs of beers.

"What, is this that type of party," Michelle says, staring at the numerous packs of beer.

Mark opens a pack up and he takes two out, "What type of other party did you think this would be," Mark says, handing Michelle a can of beer.

She takes it, but she hesitates for a while, "I don't know, I just thought it would be a different type of party," Michelle says opening the can, to take a long sip of it.

"Wow, Michelle drinking beer, I haven't seen this, since, like 2007," Mark says, watching as Michelle drinks the beer.

Michelle shakes her head and laughs, "Anyways, what's this big surprise, it must be big, since you're even planning to throw a party for it," Michelle says, putting her can of beer down.

"You'll see later, It's not that big, I just wanted to take advantage of this excuse to throw a party," Mark says.

Michelle takes another sip of her beer, "This might be random, but would you ever imagine yourself being a father to a baby, I'm just asking because of this frat party you're throwing," Michelle says, trying to casually slip the question in.

_**Was I crazy, tell me I wasn't crazy, did I really just ask him about this baby topic; a topic I've recently been thinking about, yet somehow have been managing to avoid.**_

Mark turns to her, "Michelle, do I look like the 'father type' of guy to you, a baby is probably the last thing I would ever want," Mark says, finally giving his side of the truth, but Michelle was still hiding her side of the truth.  
She stays quite for a second, "Yeah, I don't know, sometimes I think about it, but it's kind of ironic, because I'm talking about it while I hold a can of beer in my hand, so don't worry you're not alone, I also don't see myself having a baby," Michelle says, telling the truth, yet also telling a lie.

_**And after that, we dropped the baby conversation, faster than some Teen Mom's drop their baby's.**_

* * *

_**Ashley, found herself, alone yet again- I had earlier tried inviting her to Mark's party, but she told me she would rather spend her Sunday alone, strangely enough.**_

With her pajama pants on, Ashley lies on her bed in the middle of the day, with her arms stretched out, as she thinks about a way to distract herself from the emptiness.

Ashley finally get's up, she walks around her Loft, as she looks for something to do, other than watching TV or going outside.

She stops by her kitchen and pours herself a cup of cold Mocha, she then heads to her window and looks over the sunny day; a day that comes very rarely during Winter, especially in this City.

After finishing her cup of Mocha, Ashley finally get's up and feels inspired to start painting.

So she paints away, which is something she always enjoys. As an artist, it's a way for her to express her feelings on canvas, like the emptiness she fears to challenge.

* * *

_**And just like Ashley, I also wasn't really in the mood to be doing anything, for example going to a party, where heavy drinking will most likely happen.**_

Later at Mark's party, where a few guests had already arrived, Michelle kept herself to... well herself.

She watches from behind the kitchen counter, as Mark drinks and talks with some of his friends, but she on the other hand; knows nobody at the party, plus drinking beer isn't really her thing, she's more of a wine person.

_**After trying to at least talk to some of the few women at the party, I finally decided to leave the party, which by the way is taking place at my own apartment. But right when I was about to go for the door, Mark stopped me.**_

Michelle makes her way to the door, when suddenly Mark turns around, "Michelle, please don't go, you have to stay, the party hasn't even started, please stay, I still haven't even shared my surprise announcement, you have to stay," Mark says to Michelle, from the couch.

Michelle freezes, she instead turns around and joins Mark on the couch, "Come on, don't be a mom, because I know you're no mom, what type of mom drinks beer after beer in just a few hours," Mark says, already drunk.

Michelle laughs it off, but it certainly does sting a little, she get's up and leaves to the kitchen, where she opens another can of beer for her to drink.

_**And that was a great way, to make me even more upset. But the only drunk one here, was Mark, because I know, that I wasn't drinking beer after beer, at least not at the moment...**_

* * *

Wade opens the doors, "Candice, are you in here?," Wade says wandering through the large Theatre room.

He walks through the empty audience seats, when he finally finds a sign with his name on it, so he takes a guess and sits on that seat.

He sits their waiting for Candice, when all of a sudden the lights turn off and _"I Am A Good Girl"__ by Christina Aguilera _begins to play in the Theatre; followed by bright red and pink lights, he then notices a shadow coming from the far side of the stage.

With her hand on her waist, Candice makes her way to the center of the stage, while she whips out her sex-whipper.

**_In her red lingerie corset and in her leather thigh-high boots, Candice sure did dress the part for her husband._**

Wade sits their, making sure he doesn't miss one moment, "No way," Wade says, watching carefully as his wife entertains him with her sexually provocative dance moves.  
Candice moves her body towards the front of the stage, touching her body in every single possible way.

She finally walks down the stage and joins Wade on his private seat, doing a little raunchy dance-number in front of him first.

She begins to touch his thighs, finally jumping on his lap, meanwhile Wade sits their, with his arms back.

_**And in that moment, Candice released all of her dirtiest inhibitions and all of her held emotions against her husband on that stage, something she was so afraid to do. Meanwhile Wade sat their, completely blown away... literally, at least he will be in a few minutes, but let's not talk about that part...**_

* * *

"What a gorgeous day," Torrie says to her date, Brock.

Brock doesn't respond, only because he's too busy taking some sort of object from his pocket, he finally get's a hold of it, which is when he takes out.

"Close your eyes," Brock says to Torrie, as he opens the Jewelry gift box up.

Torrie closes her eyes and waits for Brock to continue, so Brock does.

He get's up and walks over behind Torrie, he takes out the beautiful white pearl _Tiffany &amp; Co. _necklace.

Torrie hears the sound of the pearls, as they brush on against each other, she feels the touch of the necklace around her chest, and then she suddenly feels his hands move her hair to the side.

Torrie finally confirms her guess about the possible gift, when she hears the necklace click close and as it falls on the back of her neck.

"Okay, open, what do you think?," Brock says, walking back to his chair.

Torrie looks at her reflection on the nearby mirror and she loves it, "Wow, It's gorgeous Brock, thank you," Torrie says, with her hand on his.

"A gorgeous pearl necklace for a gorgeous girl, on such a gorgeous day," Brock says, wowing Torrie with his words and with his generous actions.

_**It is very possible to fall in love with a Jewelry piece right then and their, and trust me, I know... but is it even possible to fall in love with a man that fast?**_

* * *

_**Ashley continued to paint, without stopping, she moved her brush in whatever direction her hand decided to go. But whatever came on the canvas, was beautifully executed, it was like she spent hours planning the details, which she does do sometimes, but this time she didn't.**_

After hours of painting away, Ashley finally puts her brush down, she quickly runs to wash her hands on the kitchen sink.

Ashley walks back to her painting, she steps back for a quick view and she is in love, with something she didn't even plan to paint in the first place.

The painting came out to be The Eiffel Tower; the beautiful lights blended in well with the dark dramatic skies, but the Eiffel Tower stood high above.

She jumps up in place, loving the fact that she pulled it off, inspiration after inspiration; Ashley was again inspired by her painting of The Eiffel Tower, so she runs to her desktop computer this time and turns it on.

_**Ashley spent the rest of her night; researching Paris and wondering if she can one day escape their, but after a while, it almost seemed impossible to her. So Ashley forgot about it, she instead turned the Computer off and did something even more crazy, which was trying a wardrobe costume change for fun.**_

Ashley runs to her closet, she looks around and she stumbles across a couple of her wigs, along with that she finds clothes that she's never worn before, or clothes that she doesn't wear as often.

She puts the wigs on and she dresses herself in outfits, that don't at all fit her style, but either way she runs to the mirror and looks at herself.

The new woman twirls in front of the mirror, not looking half as bad as she thought she would, "Oh, my, god," Ashley exclaims as she walks in the new creation of herself.

_**With her black bee-hive wig and with her short Polka-Dot dress, I swear Ashley looked like an 'Amy Winehouse'. Artists are known for being crazy and over-the-top; Ashley definitely was embracing her other side that night.**_

* * *

_**I was a drunk girl, ready to puke out my secrets and ready to run wild, which isn't who I really am, but just like Ashley, I somehow created this new person that night.**_

With a red cup of beer, Michelle stumbles her way through the people, looking for yet another drunk person; Mark.

She finally sees him, even pushing another woman out of the way, "Hey Mark, you really hurt me earlier, don't tell me I'll never be a mother, also don't say I've been drinking beer after beer, when I wasn't, I am now, but I wasn't a few hours ago," Michelle yells to Mark, she then falls in his arms, knocking over his beer and even dropping her cup of beer too.

Mark doesn't notice, but he does notice Michelle's drunk behavior, "What was that surprise you wanted to tell us all," Michelle says, still leaning in his arms.  
"I already announced it a couple of hours ago," Mark says, not as drunk as Michelle, but still a little drunk himself too.

_**And as embarrassing as it was, my drunk head couldn't remember what was the surprise announcement he announced. But things were only about to start getting even more embarrassing for me.**_

Michelle finally get's up from his arms and she leans in to kiss him in the mouth, but Mark moves his head- So Michelle only get's to kiss the side of his mouth.

"I want to have sex with you Mark, right now, I miss having sex with you, like baby-making sex," Michelle whispers in Mark's ear, but Mark instead walks her to the couch.

Where Michelle eventually ends up falling asleep, luckily for her, she was at least able to stop the public embarrassment from going any further.

_**So I slept half my drunkness away and by the time I woke up, all of the guests had left. But Mark stayed cleaning the place up, so I continued to sleep my drunkness off.**_

* * *

_**My failed attempt to kiss Mark was just an incredible stupid move on my part, but for Torrie, the kiss she played was the highlight move of her night.**_

Torrie steps out of the car, "Thanks again," Torrie says, standing in front of Brock.

"No, thank you, thank you for the memorable night," Brock says, leaning in for a hug.

The two hug, but when Torrie pulls away, her new pearl necklace get's caught in Brock's Blazer button.

Brock doesn't notice, but Torrie sure feels the tug, "Great, what a perfect way to end the night," Torrie says sarcastically, as she begins to laugh.

"Oh, good god, here let me help," Brock says, as the two try to untangle the necklace off.

While trying to untangle the necklace, the two's faces meet, very close, almost too close, so without having to pull in or without having to lean in.

Torrie decides she wants to go for the kiss, so she does; she grabs the sides of his collar and the two kiss, making the night end perfectly.

* * *

_**Candice, for once, also spent her night the right way; It was a rare occasion, but the sex happened.**_

Candice lies next to Wade, naked under the sheets, with her arms wrapped around Wade.

"That, was, quite something," Wade says, finally spending a damn night with his wife; a night that surely satisfied him and her.

Meanwhile, Candice lies their, kissing her husband's neck and enjoying the moment; a moment she hopes lasts her a lifetime.

_**And Candice knew that forgiving really did make her the bigger person, not literally, but if you asked her that about her husband, her answer would be 'literally', because boy does she know.**_

* * *

_**And at 1:04 am, I was about to make one of the biggest mistakes... of my entire life.**_

Michelle wakes up in her bed, although still a little tipsy, she knows very well that she was last sleeping on the couch. So she knows that Mark most likely carried her to her room.

She get's up and checks the time, but after that she spends about 2 minutes walking back and forth her room; trying to put the puzzle pieces together, but it's all a blur to her.

_**And for some reason, my mind told me to go to Mark, for a desire I never imagined trying to actually fulfill, but why not take advantage of this drunk day, why not use it as an excuse to fulfill my secret wanting's.**_

Michelle steps out of her room, she walks towards the living room, where Mark is found sleeping.

Michelle walks quietly to him, she stands in front of him and then just stares at him; not knowing if she should actually go through with it.

_**So I walked away, but it was too late; I felt Mark's hand grab mine, he knew very well what that desire of mine was.**_

With Michelle's hand in his, Mark finally opens one of his eye, "Michelle, I know what you want, so why not do something about it," Mark says, as he get's up from the couch.

Michelle turns to him, embarrassed, but she plays it off very well by pretending she's still as drunk as she was a few hours ago. Little does Michelle know, that Mark is also only acting even more drunk, than what he actually is.

_**And apparently what I wanted that night, was also something Mark wanted; A divorced couple having sex, two Friends having sex- Call it whatever you want, it happened that night... We had sex.**_

* * *

_**But early that morning, I knew that my drunk acting wasn't all that 'Oscar Worthy'. So feeling embarrassed and ashamed, I got up and I simply left, hoping all of this can maybe dissapear that way.**_

Michelle quietly opens the front door; she throws on her nearby coat and slowly slips out of her small Manhattan apartment.

She steps out into the chilly Monday morning, she turns back and carefully closes the door. Finally taking off, so that she has no chance in seeing Mark again, at least for the next few hours.

_**And at 6:00 a.m I left, I spent the rest of the day working and over-drinking some coffee, trying hard to forget about last night's mess. I was too embarrassed to even call Mark, I was also too embarrassed to tell my friends, So I kept it to myself. But boy was it a crazy night!**_

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Wade Barrett, and Brock Lesnar.**

**Music Credit~ 'I Am A Good Girl' by Christina Aguilera**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan Nunez**

**Published On February 28, 2015**


	5. The Sort-Of Perfect Day

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 5: The Sort-Of Perfect Day**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**After hours of venturing the streets of New York City, I finally made my way back home. Walking back through the cold snow, I had hoped all along that Mark wasn't their, but at the same time I wanted Mark to be their. If Mark was their, then I would have to face him, but if he wasn't their, then I would know that I have officially ruined our friendship.**_

Michelle walks up the stairs, she walks towards the door where she nervously takes her keys out.

Suddenly Mark also happens to be walking up the stairs, "Michelle, what a coincidence," Mark says, walking towards the door too.

Michelle freezes, instead of turning around, she continues to concentrate on opening the door, "Hey Mark," Michelle says, feeling awkward and embarrassed.

She finally opens the door and walks in, Mark follows her in and then stops her by the shoulder, "Look, I know what happened last night was just a drunk mistake, but I'm cool, we can both be mature and move on, let's forget about it, you know, it was nothing, absolutely nothing, just a silly mistake," Mark says, avoiding the eye-contact between him and her.

_**I was absolutely petrified, I didn't know what to say or do.**_

Michelle also avoids the eye-contact, "Okay," Michelle says, trying to pretend that she really just doesn't care.

Michelle then throws her light-brown _Michael Kors_ coat on the floor and then continues to walk, but Mark again stops her.

"Oh and by the way, don't worry I'll get out of your hair soon, my apartment is almost ready, so I can hopefully move into it now," Mark says.

_**And just like that, I knew that I screwed up our friendship. **_

Michelle nods, "Perfect, sounds like a plan," Michelle says, with a sting burning inside her.

* * *

_**Later that day, Ashley decided that she wanted to take a risk. So for her art gallery showing, Ashley went out in the clothes you'll never usually see her wear... she even wore the black wig.**_

Ashley puts on the wig and she carefully adjusts it, she then quickly goes to the mirror for some self-validation.

"I can't believe I'm doing this, but off I go," Ashley says, heading for the door.

_**No matter what Ashley did, it was all on this new person she had created. And boy, did Ashley feel free and new.**_

* * *

Michelle walks into the living room and Mark waves to her, "I'm going," Michelle says to Mark, getting her purse and stuff together.

Mark turns to Michelle, "Are you sure this isn't about me, because I can leave," Mark says, also getting his stuff together.

Michelle stays quite, but she watches as Mark rushes to get himself out the door, "Mark, stop, I was going to go out anyways," Michelle says, picking up her coat from the couch.

"You obviously are feeling a certain way about all of this," Mark says, walking towards the door. He turns around and continues, "Maybe that's the problem; You feel something about all of this, while I don't."

_**Ouch, did he really just say that.**_

Michelle finally let's it all out, "Of course I feel a certain way, we had sex for crying out loud," Michelle says, taking his hand off the doorknob.

"I was drunk, you were the one who came onto me," Mark says, now taking her hand off the doorknob.

Michelle gasps, "Oh please, we both know that we weren't that drunk, obviously you also feel a certain way," Michelle says.

Mark shakes his head, "No I'm over us, I have been for the past few months, and I thought you would be too, but obviously you're not," Mark says, not realizing how much he's hurting Michelle.

_**The tears almost came out, but I hid them... and I hid them good, but I wasn't going to hide my feelings any longer.**_

Michelle finally calms down, "Well, I actually was over us, until recently, I've been having thoughts about us," Michelle says, hating the fact that she's the emotional vulnerable one here.

"I started thinking about our marriage and if it was all just a waste of time, or if we still had time to make it all up and maybe that divorce was just a mistake, I also thought about the idea of us having a baby," Michelle says, pouring out her heart, but Mark stays quiet.

Michelle removes his hand from the doorknob, "But obviously, we don't have anything left to give to our love, it's all in the past," Michelle says, finally opening the door to walk out.

Mark watches her walk away, he closes the door and no longer knows how to feel.

_**After that, I learned that he really no longer felt anything and that 'love' was only coming from my side of the bridge, but I have to learn to let it all go... and just be friends, but after that whole mess, I doubt we're still even just friends.**_

Michelle walks down the snowy sidewalk, she looks around and watches all of the happy couple's, she also watches the perfectly happy single women, being independent and all.

* * *

_**While my little 'love story' was about to end, Ashley's was just about to begin... finally!**_

Ashley walks inside the building; where all of her art pieces and photographs hang around the white walls.

"Hi, can you please bring me a glass of wine, thank you," Ashley says to the woman who works their.

Ashley spins in a circle, to catch a 360 look at the room; a room she must flawlessly present to the people who are coming.

The woman walks back to Ashley, "Here you go," The woman says, handing Ashley her glass of wine, but she also looks at Ashley in a funny way.

Ashley notices the woman looking at her hair, "Oh, It's just for fun, don't worry I'll be blonde again," Ashley says to the woman as the two laugh.

_**With that wig on, Ashley continued to wait for the people to come. Soon enough, the people started to show up for her art gallery showing.**_

"Thanks for coming," Ashley says to one of the guest's walking in.

Ashley smiles, she watches as the people observe and critique her pieces.

* * *

**_That same morning, Candice shared her breakfast with her son and husband; something that filled her up with joy._**

"This is nice, isn't it, it's been a long time, but here we are," Wade says to Candice, as he picks up his fork to eat his omelet.

Candice smiles, "It's never too late for the Barrett's to make a comeback," Candice says, feeling good that her family is finally coming together.

Wade points to Candice, and he says, "Were a strong team, and we're staying together," he says, referring to Brooklyn and Candice as his other 'team players'.

Brooklyn smiles, watching his parents coming together for a moment... that he rarely ever sees from them.

**_The happy family continued to spend that morning together; enjoying each other and actually moving in the right direction this time._**

* * *

**_Ashley was beginning to become bored, until a special looking guy showed up to shake it all up._**

From the corner of her eye, Ashley notices a man staring directly her way, so Ashley looks up to see who the man is.

Ashley catches the guy, which is when he looks away.

But for a short second, he looks back at Ashley and now Ashley is the one who is caught staring at him, so she looks away.

**_The two continued this 'eye-parade', until the man finally decided to approach Ashley._**

Ashley thinks about it in her head; she has the strong urge to look back and see if he is still staring, but she's too embarrassed that she'll just look like a fool crushing on him.

She stands their, distracted with thoughts, when suddenly, "Hey, are you the artist," he says, waiting for Ashley to turn around.

Ashley's eyes widen, she's too surprised for this, "Yeah, that would be me," Ashley says, trying to keep her tone at a 'cool' level.

"Ashley Massaro, right," he says, wondering about her.

Ashley nods, "Yeah, that would be me," Ashley says, when it suddenly hits her that she's already said that, now she just feels like a dumb fool with no originality.

The man looks at her funny, "Anyways, I'm Dolph and I was wondering if I could buy that art piece over their," the man, whose name is Dolph, says as he points to the art piece in the far corner.

Ashley smiles and then looks down at her notebook, "It's your lucky day, it looks like the piece hasn't been sold yet," Ashley says, trying to hide the fact that she finds him hot.

Dolph smiles and shakes her hand, "Well it looks like it is now... and I love your shoes by the way," Dolph says, staring down at her _Manolo Blahnik _purple heels.

Ashley smiles in awe, "Thank you," Ashley says, loving the sight of this man, except she would never dare to let this stranger know.

**_Dolph found the art piece amusing, while Ashley found his face amusing... the only difference is that Dolph purchased the piece and now it's his, while Ashley didn't quite get the same deal of taking him home._**

* * *

**_Hours later, we all met for some signature style' New York Pizza._**

Michelle and Torrie sit their talking, when the unrecognizable Ashley walks in the place.

She stands their by the doorway, but the girls don't notice her until seconds later, when they suddenly catch a quick glimpse of her face.

Michelle looks up, "Is that Ashley," Michelle says, watching as this new Ashley makes her way to them.

Ashley laughs as she walks over to them, "I was feeling a little risky, just trying to change it up a little," Ashley says, flaunting the wig on her head.

Torrie looks at Michelle and the two gasp, "Wait, wasn't your art gallery showing today," Torrie says, also not understanding the new Ashley.

Ashley throws her hands in the air, "I'm an artist, I can get away with this," Ashley says to them as she sits down, "Where's Candice, because theirs a new brunette in town," Ashley says.

Michelle try's to take in this new Ashley, but it's hard, "She's out with Wade and her son, but first, I'm sorry, I just can't get over this whole new look of yours," Michelle says, taking a bite from her plain cheese pizza.

Ashley just laughs, "Well, today is just a day of miracles," Ashley says putting her stuff down.

Torrie shakes her head, "No, Candice and Wade have been spending more time together for the past few days, it's not a miracle, they're just getting back on track," Torrie says, adjusting her greasy pizza slice on the white paper plate.

"That's not the miracle I'm talking about, I'm talking about me meeting a guy and we sort of having a thing between us, but I don't know," Ashley says, still crushing on that Dolph Ziggler guy.

**_This 'Dolph Ziggler' guy made Ashley's day seem perfect... Meanwhile this slice of pizza was the only highlight of my day._**

Torrie and Michelle look at each other, they both smile and turn back to Ashley, "No way, but what do you mean you don't know," Torrie says, wiping the grease off her pizza with the napkin.

Ashley looks at both of them, "I don't know, we had that whole staring game thing going on, he bought an art piece of mine, so I get to see him again," Ashley says.

Michelle then turns to Torrie, "Well speaking of men, Torrie has one of her own, but she never tells us about him," Michelle says to Ashley as the two stare at Torrie.

Torrie puts her slice of pizza down, "We've only been seeing each other for a few weeks, plus he's technically not mine yet, we're not officially a couple yet," Torrie says, trying to explain it to them.

**_Torrie was simply waiting for Brock to finally take her in as his girlfriend... Meanwhile Ashley waited for her slice of pizza, oh and the chance that maybe Dolph can be more than just a crush to her._**

"Well ask him, you need to know if he's officially your boyfriend," Michelle says, ripping a piece of her pizza crust off.

Torrie shakes her head, "No, I cant do that, I don't want to pressure him and scare him away," Torrie says, afraid with the thought of loosing Brock.

Ashley shrugs, "Anyways, how are you and Mark," Ashley says, waiting for Michelle to finally share something about her life.

**_I'd honestly rather just help them with their love life, because mine's way too crazy to even figure out right now._**

Michelle hesitates with answering, "We actually aren't really on speaking terms, he's moving out sometime soon," Michelle says, not willing to share any more.

"Oh no, what happened," Torrie says, trying to help Michelle out in any way.

"Nothing, it was silly," Michelle says; telling half the truth, but also half the lie.

Ashley notices Michelle's uncomfortable behavior, so she changes the topic, "Okay, now can we get back to talking about the hot guy, who might like me," Ashley says, bring the mood back up.

* * *

Torrie jumps over her pile of shoes, "Does this look fine," Torrie says, twirling in the light-blue dress.

Brock laughs watching her, "You can go out in your sweatpants, and you'd still look hot," Brock says, sitting on Torrie's bed.

Torrie walks up to the mirror, "I feel like this color makes me stand out, it's too bright," Torrie says, running back to her closet.

"Well next weekend you have to stand out, because I want my family to remember my girlfriend when they first meet her," Brock says, as he just sits their, waiting for Torrie to finally choose an outfit.

**_Do men not think about this stuff? Torrie can't help but to continuously think about it; he officially just called her his girlfriend, but he also wants her to meet his family, is he moving too fast for Torrie and any other sane woman... or is Torrie moving too slow for Brock?_**

Torrie stops for a second, "You're fine with meeting them, right," Brock asks, noticing Torrie's sudden change in movement.

Torrie turns around, "No, it's fine, I'm just happy you finally called me your girlfriend... boyfriend," Torrie says, giving Brock her signature quirky smile.

Brock smiles back and Torrie stares into his eyes from across her bedroom, "Anyways, I'll hurry up," Torrie says as she turns back to chose another dress for their night out.

**_Brock spent his time waiting for Torrie to pick a dress, while Torrie spent her time waiting for Brock to call her his 'girlfriend'._**

* * *

**_That evening, Candice found herself shopping at Barneys New York... But just when Candice thought nothing could ruin her perfect day, something made it's way between Candice and the 'Perfect Day'._**

Candice picks up a pair of _J Brand_ red jeans, "Ooh, these look nice," Candice says to Wade, who stands their ignoring her.

Candice looks up and sees her husband on his phone again, "Not only do I have to pay for my own purchases here, but I even have to stand and be ignored by my husband, who's on his phone all the time... how great," Candice says with a little wit inside her.

Wade sarcastically laughs as he puts his phone away, "What'd you say, say it again," Wade says, raising his voice.

**_But apparently, the only thing that was getting in between Candice and her 'Perfect Day' was... well, Candice herself._**

Candice rolls her eyes, "Oh for crying out loud, you look ridiculous, when in public put your phone away, you're forty not seventeen," Candice says, walking away to the designer purses.

Wade follows her, "Look you little b*tch, I'm messaging my friend for this case we have coming up, so go f*ck yourself Candice," Wade yells as the people in the store turn to look at the fighting family.

Candice is left humiliated and the paranoia isn't helping, "You have such a big mouth, keep it down, you're causing a scene," Candice says to him quietly.

Meanwhile, Brooklyn turns into this invisible ghost, as he always does when they fight in public, the kid is too embarrassed to even move around easily.

Wade grabs Candice by the arm, "Well then don't open your mouth, because you started it," Wade says, almost squeezing the blood-flow from Candice's arm.

The shopping costumers continue to uncomfortably glance over at them, "All I did was say what bothered me, which was you being on your phone, making me look stupid," Candice says, taking his hand off of her petite arm, "You embarrassing me and your son, goodbye," Candice says, walking away as Brooklyn follows her.

* * *

Torrie steps out of the bathroom, with only one shoe on, "I don't really think we should go out tonight," Torrie says, with her hair all over the place.

Brock try's not to laugh, "What happened in their," Brock says, as the laughter comes out.

Brock couldn't help, but to laugh. While Torrie couldn't help, but to cry her eyes out.

Brock's laughter quickly fades away, he walks to Torrie and he lifts her head up lightly, "What's the matter, don't cry, it's all fine," Brock says, trying to let Torrie know that she's beautiful to him either way.

Torrie continues to sob, "I don't know, I wanted this day to be perfect, It's our first date as a couple and it's going so wrong," Torrie says, wiping her eyes off.

"Were already late for the plans we had and I look like a mess," Torrie says, with her hands on her head.

Brock takes them off and wraps them around his waist, "It's fine, we can stay in, not everything is going to ever be perfect, but that's fine," Brock says.

Torrie finally calms her 'girly' emotions down, "I'm going to take all of this off, I'll be back," Torrie says, walking back to the bathroom.

**_"Torrie has already had her first date with Brock and she knows that she actually does have feelings for him"- So why not have sex with him, which is exactly what Torrie was thinking that second._**

Torrie turns around, "Look, now that we're dating and all, I've been wondering... And well, Do you wanna f*ck," Torrie says, turning her sweet side off for the moment.

Brock gasps, "My god Torrie, who are you, but to answer your question, yes, I do want to f*ck" Brock says, excited to actually wait for this one.

**_Torrie kept her hair down, but Brock kept his 'thing' way up. But that night, the newly official boyfriend &amp; girlfriend finally made love to each other and the thing with Brock, was that he was quick to come into Torrie's heart, which is exactly how he came to 'coming' in Torrie, it was quick with excitement but it also felt really good to the two._**

* * *

**_After contemplating my day around New York, I finally went back to my apartment._**

Michelle puts her coat down on the couch, she looks around and casually try's to move around, without looking bothered.

"Hey," Michelle says, watching Mark lay on the couch.

Mark sit's up and faces her, "Hey," Mark says and he continues, "I just wanted to," but both he and Michelle interrupt each other with the same few words.

Michelle shakes her head and laughs, "Anyways I just wanted to apologize for everything," Michelle says, taking her chance to apologize first.

Mark nods, "I want to apologize too, I was a jerk, because maybe I did also feel something," Mark says, getting up to walk up to Michelle.

"It's fine, I don't blame you if you never did feel anything for me anymore, I mean we're divorced, we're not supposed to feeling anything for each other, it's not sane," Michelle says.

Mark grabs her hand, "Sorry for all of the 'after-divorce' craziness," Mark says, giving Michelle a friendly hug.

Michelle feels his hand pat her back, "Ugh, It's fine, we're both insane, we couldn't avoid this craziness, even if we tried," Michelle says laughing along with Mark.

**_And that night, I realized that I would never again have 'love' apologies to give to Mark... but we're still going to have to give our 'friendship' apologies._**

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Wade Barrett, Brooklyn Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, and Brock Lesnar.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On March 15, 2015.**


	6. Paranoid About Chicks & Dudes

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 6: Paranoid About Chicks &amp; Dudes**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**On a very, very early morning Ashley was already getting herself picture-perfect ready for the day, specifically for one guy... her crush, Dolph Ziggler. Except the woman she was showing him, wasn't really her, it was just Ashley trying to attract the opposite sex by faking herself up... this time she didn't wear the wig though, Ashley knows her limits sometimes. Plus the wig was too costume-like, especially for the beautiful DVF dress I let her borrow, because god knows that Ashley owns zero brand-labeled pink dresses.**_

Ashley adjusts her dress as she does last minute touch ups to her real hair, "Okay, he's not here yet, great," Ashley says as she approaches the front door of her Brooklyn Art Studio.

"More time to get ready, I guess," Ashley says, walking over to the nearest mirror in the studio.

Ashley looks in it and she quickly puts a little more eye-shadow, she then rubs body-shimmer on her legs; trying to flaunt anything to her advantage, something she doesn't usually do.

_**Ashley was paranoid about how she looked, almost too paranoid... if only she could realize that she's so much better than what she thinks of herself.**_

* * *

_**And just when I thought I could finally let go of any feelings for Mark, he, without knowing, was just making it even more hard for me to do that.**_

"Michelle, I hate this, but I have to stay here for a little more, I'm sorry," Mark says, reaching over to get the orange juice from the counter.

Michelle looks over at him, "Uh, Okay, that's fine," Michelle says, laughing it off.

Mark puts down his glass of orange juice, "No, it's not fine, I'm trying to let you move on, believe me, but the Realtor said that the apartment isn't ready yet, the owner isn't really sure if he even wants to sell it anymore," Mark says, tasting the guilt and embarrassment.

Michelle smiles and pats him on the back, "No, believe me, It's fine, I can move on, I'll just do it around you, like the kid who eats around the vegetables," Michelle says, pouring herself a glass of orange juice too.

_**But it wasn't really like the 'kid who eats around the vegetables' because unlike the kid, I actually did like my vegetable, aka Mark. But I knew, that now I really had to work hard with my brain and not with my heart, so that I can only see Mark as just a friend.**_

* * *

_**For some reason, Candice was getting a bad itch; an itch to go through Wade's phone, which is something she would never imagine herself doing.**_

Candice lies in bed, she carefully hears as Wade enters the bathroom.

She waits for a while, but the temptation get's the best of her, "I have to," Candice whispers to herself as she picks up his phone, which lies on the bedside drawer.

Candice quickly turns it on and the overwhelming feelings go all over the place, their's too much to go through, but she goes directly to the messages.

"No, no," Candice panics, but she keeps it down for the sake of her husband being one door away.

Candice quickly lays the phone back down and she sits their with one of her hands over her mouth.

_**It was the beginning of something new- Something that Candice would now begin to feel paranoid and insecure about, which is that Wade might be having an affair with another woman.**_

* * *

_**After forty minutes of waiting, Dolph finally arrived to Ashley's Art Studio. And Ashley's heart started racing when she saw him, but if it was anybody else that made her wait forty minutes, well that heart racing would be of anger and not of jittery feelings.**_

Dolph walks through the door and he looks around for Ashley, "Oh there you are," Dolph says waving to Ashley, even though she's the only person in the room.

Ashley waves back, "Here I am," Ashley says pointing to herself as she waits for Dolph to walk over to her.

"Sorry, I was distracted by all of this wonderful art," Dolph says, still wandering his eyes around the pieces.

Ashley laughs, "Thank you," Ashley says, trying to play it cool, "Anyways, here's the painting you purchased," Ashley says, removing the white sheet from the painted canvas.

"Ashley, I love your dress, Is that DVF," Dolph says, checking Ashley's dress out, "Diane is such a fighter, you've got to love her," Dolph continues.

Ashley looks down at her dress, "She's such a fighter, and this dress is just a pink perfection," Ashley says, trying to search for more words to say.

_**Except Ashley had no idea who Diane Von Furstenberg was, but she did rock Diane's dress perfectly and Dolph thought so too.**_

"Surprisingly, I have nothing else to do today, so would you like to go out for coffee with me," Dolph says, finally making the first move, "If you're free, that is," Dolph says, trying to find a friend within Ashley.

Ashley's heart starts jumping up and down, "Of course, I'm totally free," Ashley says, trying to calm her excitement down a little.

* * *

_**Later, I met Torrie at her apartment, where she had the right to talk about Brock for however long her heart and mouth desired, so she did and I listened.**_

Alicia walks in the living room, "Ooh, girl, this came in for you," Alicia says from the doorway.

_**Alicia Fox is Torrie's roommate, the two shared the apartment that neither one of them could afford on their own. They were almost as close as two twin sisters, therefore, Alicia wasn't afraid to speak what was on her mind.**_

Alicia adjusts her glasses, "Wow, talk about being spoiled," Alicia says, looking through the basket as she walks over to Torrie.

Torrie laughs, "Stop it, he doesn't do this all the time," Torrie says, taking the gift-basket away from Alicia.

Alicia laughs and playfully pushes Torrie by the shoulder, "I'm kidding, anyways I can't stay, I have to go," Alicia says, walking back towards the doorway.

Michelle waves to Alicia, "Bye Michelle," Alicia says, waving back to her as she walks out.

Michelle quitely turns to Torrie, "I'm not going to lie, you are way too spoiled by him," Michelle says, looking down at the luxurious gift-basket.

Torrie pushes it away with her foot, "I don't mean to call you out or anything, but what about you," Torrie says, afriad to even start this argument, "Michelle, you are honestly, one of the most spoiled person I have ever met, but I never judge you about it," Torrie says.

_**I love Torrie, but the b*tch just slapped me with the harsh truth I choose to ignore.**_

Michelle leans her head to the side, "I'm not attacking you, so their's no need for you to attack me, thank you very much," Michelle says, picking up her purse and coat.

"By the way, I just want you to know that either way, as long as you love him, it's fine," Michelle says as she puts her coat on, "Why do you care, I thought you were all about love and now you're all paranoid about it," Michelle continues, "The way you insulted me, also really pissed me off by the way," Michelle says, walking towards the same door she came in through.

Torrie sits their, she turns her head back and watches as Michelle walks out the door.

_**But in reality, I was the one who was more paranoid with my own life, I guess I took it out on Torrie. But I was still offended by her saying that I'm superficial, I mean, If I want to walk in my Alexander Mcqueen coat and in my Fendi heels, than so be it.**_

* * *

_**A few seconds later, another paranoid woman on the other side of New York, was watching as her husband left her for his 'second life'.**_

Wade walks in the bedroom, he picks up his suit-tie and begins to clip it on, "You do realize it's eleven," Wade says, watching as Candice lies in the bed.

Candice rolls her eyes and picks herself up, "Yes, I do, but I also realize that it's Saturday and that I, for once, have a free day to myself," Candice says throwing the sheets off her body.

Wade continues to gel his hair, while Candice stares at him doing so, "I don't understand how some men hide their affairs and think that women just never know or that we ever have doubts about it," Candice says, lighting up the fire with her fuel.

Wade begins to laugh, "Well, you've been stupid long enough, what suddenly made you realize this," Wade says as he continues to laugh, "I was kidding Candice, but what are you trying to say, If your saying that I'm cheating on you, than maybe you really don't know anything," Wade says, walking out of the bedroom.

Candice stays sitting in the bed, watching as her husband walks out and trying hard to maybe get a clue; a clue that leads her to the truth... a truth that might break her family apart.

_**After that, Candice didn't know what to believe anymore, but she did know that Wade was defitnely up to something fishy, it's all foreshadowing to her.**_

* * *

_**Ashley never knew that her constant daydreaming about Dolph Ziggler, could lead her to this moment.**_

"So, how long have you been doing art for," Dolph asks, trying to start a conversation, with the almost too shy Ashley.

Ashley smiles, "I don't know how to answer that, I've been doing it for so long, but I'm not sure when I officially started to do art I guess," Ashley says, opening her pack of sugar.

Dolph nods, "I feel you, it's one of those things that you've just always known," Dolph says, stiring his cup of coffee.

"Pretty much, but I guess, I first started to profit out of it, maybe about 15 years ago," Ashley says, ripping a piece of her doughnut for her to eat.

_**In awkward moment of silence hits them, which is when Ashley dies a little inside, "Am I too boring," which is just another paranoia question coming across Ashley's head.**_  
"So what about you, how long have you been into art," Ashley says, hoping to pick this bland conversation up a little.

Dolph thinks for a second, "I'm honestly not that into art, I just enjoy going out sometimes to discover some amazing art pieces," Dolph says, blowing on his hot cup of coffee.

"Oh, okay, well then, what do you enjoy," Ashley says, feeling like the two have absolutely nothing in common.

Dolph again thinks, "I don't know, I obsess over female singers a lot, like Cyndi Lauper, I absolutely love her," Dolph says, trying to stop himself from going on and on about the singer.

Ashley smiles and raises her eyebrows unintentionally, "I honestly don't know who she is," Ashley says, continuing to smile.

Dolph laughs and shakes his head, "I knew it, you probably think I'm weird," Dolph says.

Ashley laughs and touches his arm, "No, that's not it," Ashley says, but the guilt makes her go on, "Hey, I wear wigs, I'm the weird one here," Ashley says, referring to her brunette wig.

Dolph continues to laugh, "Yeah, I was wondering what happened to your brunette hair," Dolph says, as he drinks some of his coffee.

"Yeah, I guess me and those female singers have that in common, we both wear wigs," Ashley says, trying to continue this built up conversation.

Dolph smiles, "If you were a female singer, I would so buy your albums, if you were a pop singer of course," Dolph says, actually feeling comfortable with Ashley now.

_**So Ashley smiled and the two continued to talk in that little coffee-shop. As the minutes went by, Ashley eased into her self and the paranoia also eased away.**_

* * *

**_I walked into my office at approximately Twelve A.M. and I walked out at approximately Four P.M., I spent most of my Saturday day, working._**

Michelle goes through her phone, when suddenly a smell catches her attention.

In the middle of Manhattan, a club reeks of cologne and expensive perfume, it's too strong to ignore.

**_And there it was- My call to go out and have fun, My call to go out into the dating world again and maybe that's why I unconsciously turned around to walk in the club._**

Michelle notices people walking into this hip club, for a second she ignores it and continues to walk... When suddenly she get's the urge to turn her Saturday around, so she walks to the club.

**_Although I wasn't dressed up for a club, I was still dressed decently for a party. So why not go in and have fun, because no paranoia was going to come out of this Thirty Five year old woman; Not about my age or my relationship status, or even the fact that I might not fit in with these younger chicks and dudes._**

* * *

**_Torrie, on the other hand, was surely mixing in with all types of generations, like her much-older boyfriend Brock._**

Torrie's eyes go around the room, when suddenly an item catches her eye, "Who's this," Torrie says, walking to the picture of the woman.

Brock turns around, "Oh, that's actually..., my daughter," Brock says, following Torrie around.

Torrie's pupils widen, "Your, daughter, oh, okay," Torrie says shocked.

Brock takes the picture away and puts it back down, "Don't worry, she's my only child," Brock says.

Torrie casually laughs along, "I'm sorry, It's not a problem, I'm just a little..., surprised," Torrie says, nervously laughing.

"Is me being a parent, that hard to believe," Brock says laughing.

**_Torrie believed, he practically treated her like his second daughter... except they slept together and his sperm didn't create her face._**

"So you have a daughter, anything else," Torrie says, trying to scan the townhouse, without being obvious.

* * *

_**After minutes of roaming around this NYC Club, I finally found the guy to help me take my mind off of Mark.**_

Michelle continues to dance, while her pink champagne splashes from side to side

Michelle throws her hands in the air and feels her hair twirl from every angle, she feels the music move her and for that hour she was part of this younger generation.

She turns to her left, when suddenly a hand pulls her back to the right- A guy who is ready to keep up with Michelle.

**_And boy, was he adorable, plus he didn't look too young, if I could guess, he was probably in his late 20's or early 30's._**

"I'm Sheamus," The dancing man says to Michelle, trying to speak over the music.

Michelle winks and the two continue to dance.

* * *

**_Later, in a much classier place, Torrie and Brock continued to argue in Brock's Townhouse._**

The two sit their watching TV; Brock with the remote and Torrie with a _Chanel _clutch he earlier gave to her.

"Why don't you ever tell me anything," Torrie finally says, breaking the long silence.

Brock turns to her, "Look, I'm sorry that my twenty year old daughter never came up in our conversations," Brock says, with his hand on her shoulder.

Torrie removes his hand, "It's not just that, It's this and everything else you never tell me about," Torrie says, getting up to walk away.

**_But Torrie wasn't going to stop their, this sweet girl was going to bring out the tough woman._**

She turns back around, "Brock, I tell you every little thing about me and my little life, but you can't tell me about this huge life of your's," Torrie continues to say.

"I tell you about my little apartment, about my little writing job in my little office that pays very little, I also tell you about my little family in Staten Island and about my little group of friends, who I love with all my heart," Torrie goes on, "Oh and about my little heart, and about this little love I have for you," Torrie yells, finally turning around to walk away.

Brock finally finds a moment to speak, "Torrie, stop it, I was looking for the right moments to tell you about all of these things," Brock says, following her.

Torrie turns around and throws the _Chanel _clutch on the floor, "Well, you won't find that right moment right now, because I'm leaving," Torrie says, with her hand on the doorknob.

Brock watches her walk out, "Torrie, please, don't go," Brock yells, as he follows her to the outside of his Townhouse.

Torrie continues to walk down the staircase, "I have a migraine, so goodbye," Torrie yells, adding a little white lie to get away.

"Here, at least let me give you a ride," Brock yells.

"I'll take a Cab, I'm not some little girl, I'll be fine," Torrie yells back, walking off.

_**After a crazy day, she called me and the two of us made up... I even made a few jokes about me being superficial. But she never called Brock, the two never made up that day.**_

* * *

**_Later that evening, Wade finally made his way back home. Where he found Candice doing what no other New York Woman could ever do, which was to go to sleep at 9:00 P.M._**

Wade quietly takes off his shoes and Candice is awoken by the slightest movement of the bed.

She looks to the mirror in front of her, where she sees Wade's reflection, which also shows a reflection of what's to come in the future for the family.

Wade takes off his tie and the notification sound of his phone annoys the hell out of Candice's tired mind, his whispered laugh as he reads the messages also annoy Candice. But she silently lies there, trying hard to hold it all in.

**_Candice instead spent her night looking out the window near her bedside, where the bright New York lights blinded her from the harsh truth._**

* * *

**_Some New Yorkers dream of the bright lights, while others walk past the bright lights; wild and free. Which is how I found myself that night- Wild &amp; Free. After the fun club, I left with Sheamus and we even stopped for McDonalds that night._**

Sheamus takes a bite out of his big mac and then turns to Michelle, "So, how long have you been single," Sheamus says, trying to get to know Michelle a little better.

Michelle swings her McDonalds bag back and forth, "I don't know, for about 5 months," Michelle says, drinking from her Cola, "What about you," Michelle continues.

**_Although he was mostly meant to be just a 'rebound guy', I still sort of cared, so I couldn't tell him I was recently divorced and that I was still living with the ex._**

Sheamus shrugs, "I don't know, for about 7 months," Sheamus says, also not in the mood to share more.

Michelle stops, "Tonight was fun and this is my place, by the way," Michelle says, giving Sheamus a simple hug.

"Is their any chance I might be allowed to go in," Sheamus says, wondering which apartment door belongs to Michelle.

**_I thought dancing at a club and eating McDonalds would be enough, but apparently the man wanted to enter my apartment too._**

Michelle shakes her head and laughs, "No, I'm sorry," Michelle says, feeling guilty and embarrassed, "Look, I have a mess up there, but maybe next time," Michelle explains, even holding his hand to make him feel better.

Sheamus nods and then pulls Michelle in for a kiss, the two kiss for about 30 seconds, but then Michelle pulls away because of the idea that Mark might see them through the window.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Michelle says, walking up the stairs, "But call me," Michelle exclaims to Sheamus, from the staircase.

Sheamus waves goodbye and begins to walk away, while Michelle watches him walk further away from her.

**_I couldn't do it; kissing him or inviting him in my apartment, Mark was the sole reason of me not being able to do this. So with a McDonalds bag in one hand and my purse on the other, I watched as my first and only kiss walked away into the night. He was a nice guy, but I was too paranoid for him, I had to find someone else, he was just another rebound that will lead to the next one._**

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Alicia Fox, Brock Lesnar, and Sheamus.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On March 22, 2015.**


	7. Give 'Em A Chance

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 7: Give 'Em A Chance**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**After days of contemplating, I finally decided to give this 'rebound guy' a chance. Although I still had Mark on my mind and although I was planning to use this rebound guy as a bridge to meet the next one, I thought maybe I could extend this bridge and continue to try it out for a while. But I still wasn't really feeling him, so for our first 'date' I decided on us going out for some famous New York Style Cheesecake at 1:00 P.M.**_

Michelle takes a bite of her Cheesecake, wishing she could somehow find something great about this guy, "So, how old are you," Michelle says, trying to get to know him better.

"I'm actually 37, what about you," Sheamus asks, also wanting to know more about Michelle.

_**Wow, apparently the man I thought was in his late 20's is actually in his late 30's, I guess I don't feel so old now.**_

Michelle puts her fork down and laughs, "No way, you are not 37, I swear I thought you would be like 28 or something," Michelle says and goes on, "Oh and by the way, I'm 35," Michelle says.

Sheamus shrugs, "What can I say, I guess I don't age," Sheamus says as he takes a bite of his creamy cheesecake.

Michelle continues to laugh, "So, what about me, how old did you think I was," Michelle asks, wondering what this hip-guy from the club might say.

Sheamus looks up and thinks for a minute, "Honestly, about 36 or so," Sheamus says, scared that he might offened Michelle.

Michelle smiles, "Well, you were close," Michelle says, relieved that he didn't give her a bigger number.

Michelle then points to Sheamus with her fork, "So, tell me more about you," Michelle says to Sheamus.

Sheamus again thinks, "I don't know, I'm Irish and Jewish and I'm from Queens," Sheamus says, hoping Michelle finds at least one of those things attractive.

_**And in that moment, my Jewish little heart sank.**_

Michelle almost completely jumps out of her chair, "No way, I'm also Jewish," Michelle exclaims, beginning to like this Sheamus guy a little more. The two smile and continue to talk through their cheesecake date.

_**So me and a fellow Jew shared a few extra minutes together, minutes that I wouldn't otherwise give to some rebound guy I met at a club.**_

* * *

_**Giving people chances is important, but it can be hard when you're angry with them and it can be even harder to get the apologies to come out. Which is exactly how Torrie was feeling, she hadn't been seeing Brock for the past few days.**_

Torrie opens the door, when suddenly, "Hey Torrie," Brock says, walking inside Torrie's apartment.

Torrie freezes by the door, she then turns around, "Hi, what are you doing here," Torrie says as she watches Brock walk in.

"I came to invite you to this small dinner I am planning on having tonight," Brock says, hoping he can make it up to Torrie.

Torrie stays by the door, with her arms fully crossed, "I don't think I can," Torrie says, puzzled by the fact that Brock is acting like nothing ever happened between them.

Brock reaches for Torrie's hand, "My daughter is coming too, it'll only be us three," Brock says, hoping Torrie can let go of all of this.

Torrie shakes her head, "Brock, I'm still upset, so don't hold your breath," Torrie says.

Brock takes her hand and kisses it, "Look, I want you to go tonight," Brock says walking away.

But before walking out, he turns around, "I hope to see you there tonight," Brock says again, finally walking out of her apartment.

Torrie stands at the doorway, watching as Brock walks away.

_**Torrie wasn't sure anymore.**_

* * *

_**Torrie was simply trying to get a clear image of what her and Brock were doing, while Ashley on the other hand, was painting an image of what she wanted to be doing with Dolph. Ashley and Dolph met up for a painting session, which adds to the list of many things they've done together so far... except a little move of affection wasn't being made yet by Mr. Ziggler.**_

"Ooh, that's sick," Dolph says, staring at Ashley's painting, "You are a genius, you seriously make me look bad," Dolph exclaims, comparing her painting to his painting.

Ashley blushes as she laughs, "Aww, thank you Dolph," Ashley says, casually rubbing up against his arm.

_**Dolph could see great art from a mile away, he could also see great shoes from a mile away, but one thing the man couldn't do... was sense a little flirtatious movement from another human being.**_

Dolph continues to observe Ashley's painting, "The strokes are intense," Dolph says and then pauses, "You can really see the emotions in the lovers eyes," Dolph says to Ashley with his hand on his chin, referring to the couple's eyes meeting in Ashley's painting.

_**Ashley was dying to hold his hand, she wanted him to make a move or for herself to even make that first move for them. But half of the time Dolph seemed clueless and the other half, well he was too busy paying attention to Ashley's forms of expression.**_

Ashley stares at him, "The emotions in this painting are all raw, which is what really makes this painting beautiful," Ashley says, staring into her own reflection of blind hopefulness.

* * *

_**On the other side of Manhattan, Sheamus and I were heading home, and every step I got closer to my apartment, the more nervous I got.**_

Michelle and Sheamus stand across each other, "So, this was great," Michelle says, petrified that he again might want to come inside her apartment.

Sheamus smiles as he looks over Michelle's shoulder, "I had a great time too," Sheamus says, waiting for Michelle to maybe invite him in.

Michelle notices Sheamus constantly looking back at her apartment building, "Hey, see you next time," Michelle says as she goes to hug him.

"What if we continued this day together," Sheamus suggests, wondering why she's so uptight about bringing him up into her apartment.

_**I couldn't do that, I wasn't ready for Mark to know about my love life. If you consider this a 'Love Life', because I'm not even sure I actually have feelings for this Sheamus guy.**_

Michelle shakes her head, "No, I'm sorry, I have somewhere to be after this," Michelle says, lying to cover her truth.

Sheamus hugs her again and then walks off, "Okay, well bye," Sheamus says, knowing Michelle and him have nothing else.

_**I felt terrible, maybe I was feeling too emotional, but I felt like he felt that I was giving him a big plate of rejection, with a little side of fake hope. Is it pathetic to blame Mark for all of this, should I just admit that I'm still not over him.**_

* * *

_**After hours of thinking it through, Torrie finally decided to show up to Brock's planned out dinner. Her **__**curiosity begged her to go, mostly so that she could finally meet the daughter and in fear that if she didn't go, Brock and her would possibly be on the road to breaking up.**_

"I'm glad you could make it," Brock says as he hugs Torrie.

Torrie smiles and gives him a kiss, "I'm a little nervous, but I'm here," Torrie whispers into his ear.

"You'll be fine," Brock says to Torrie, he then holds her hand and takes her to the kitchen.

Torrie follows, when suddenly she catches a glimpse of Brock's daughter, "Emma, this is Torrie," Brock says, as he waits for her to respond.

Emma stares at her and then waves, "Nice to meet you," Emma says turning back around, slightly un-interested with Torrie's presence.

_**The second Emma smelled drugs, she became addicted, but it didn't work that way with Torrie. Apparently Torrie's Macy's perfume wasn't doing the trick for this 20 year old preppy girl who happened to be in love with crystal-meth. **_

Torrie and Brock look at each other, "Okay," Torrie whispers to Brock, she then heads over to join Emma.

Torrie stands by the dinner-table, "Hey, is it fine if I join you," Torrie asks Emma, trying a bit too hard so that Emma can give her a chance.

Emma looks up and pauses, "Sure," Emma says, again almost completely dismissing Torrie's significance.

_**So for the next few minutes, Torrie awkwardly sat across Emma, without much talking. But Torrie's mind was sure talking, it was telling her to impress the daughter of the boyfriend.**_

* * *

_**Having dinner with strangers can be uncomfortable sometimes, but having dinner with family is a whole separate story. The story is also known as serenity and joy, which is what Candice was feeling that afternoon.**_

Candice picks up her peas with her fork, but she misses them because she's too busy watching her son and husband, "So, is it good," Candice asks the two.

Brooklyn smiles and gives her a thumbs up, "I love it so far," Brooklyn says, taking a bite from his steak.

Candice smiles brightly, "Thank you honey," Candice exclaims, she then turns to Wade, who apparently has nothing to say.  
Candice turns back to Brooklyn and the two continue to talk on about Brooklyn making it into his School's soccer team.

_**So the happy wife ignored and continued to appreciate the fact that her family was finally spending a dinner together... even though Wade was practically daydreaming on another planet.**_

* * *

_**As they spent their hour dinning in, I spent mine showering and doing 'other things' in. **_

After showering, Michelle opens the bathroom door and steps outside, when suddenly she hears a woman's laugh coming from her living room.

Michelle walks to the living room, when she is suddenly surprised with seeing Mark and some woman sitting on the couch drinking red-wine as they laugh and get touchy with each other.

Mark turns around and sees Michelle, "Hey Michelle, this is Victoria," Mark says, taking a pause, "She's my friend," Mark finishes off.

Michelle smiles and goes over to shake her hand, "Okay, well I'll leave you two alone," Michelle says, walking off.

_**How did I suddenly somehow get so lost in my tiny New York-sized bathroom? Before I stepped into the shower, Mark had nobody in his life that I knew of, but when I stepped out of the shower I learned that I was wrong about that assumption.**_

Mark feels somewhat guilty, so he try's to stop Michelle, "Michelle, stay, I swear you won't be a third wheel," Mark says to Michelle, as he and Victoria continue to drink their glasses of wine on the couch.

"Yeah, you can totally join us, we're just having some good old laughs," Victoria says, raising her glass of wine in the air as she laughs.

Michelle puts her hand on her head and shakes it, "No, I wish I could, but I have other plans," Michelle lies, "You guys go on with your little date, or whatever," Michelle says as she walks to her bedroom.

_**I guess I just lied to keep my feelings from hurting, because seeing Mark with someone else still made me weak. And sh*t, now I have to go out, I guess I'll have to figure out where I'll be going out for tonight.**_

* * *

_**While I scrambled to make last-minute plans, Ashley scrambled to take her thing with Dolph to the next level. And after nearly spending 3 hours of painting with Dolph, the two finally got to talking about their deeper sides of emotions, which brought them closer.**_

After a moment of silence, Dolph turns to Ashley, "Do you ever feel unloved or like you're just too lonely in this world," Dolph asks Ashley, wondering if Ashley could ever understand his emotions.

Ashley puts her paintbrush and turns to him, "Yes, actually, I feel that too often," Ashley replies, followed by a pause, "It hurts, especially when you stop and think about it," Ashley says, stopping to think about her emptiness.

_**They became best friends in that moment, it was a bonding moment.**_

Dolph continues, "Do you ever feel like you have to hide your true feelings and keep everything inside," Dolph asks again.

"All the time, it's scary and depressing," Ashley answers, feeling the frustration and the irony within that question.

Dolph nods and Ashley gives him a smile, the two then begin cleaning up the studio space, while they continue their emotional conversation.

* * *

**_On the upper-side of New York City, Candice spent her next few seconds counting down the relieving feeling that her and Wade didn't have any fits or fights in their time together for dinner. Because along with Serenity and Joy, Drama is also a key part in the story of a family having dinner together... which was coming right up for Candice..._**

Candice takes a sip from her glass of water, when suddenly she notices's Wade moving un-easily in his chair while his phone rings.

Candice notices the nervousness in Wade's face, "What are you doing," Candice says, watching him get up from the dinning-table.

Wade ignores her and quickly exits out of their home, "Wade, what the hell," Candice yells, finding the call and his actions very suspicious.

Candice opens the door and follows him out, "Who are you on the phone with," Brooklyn over-hears his mother saying as she closes the door.

Brooklyn is left alone, so he simply get's up and instead goes to his room, "Great, something bad is about to go down," Brooklyn says to himself, as he hears his parents loudly arguing out in the hall.

**_So the boy got out his iPod and he put his headphones on, trying to distract himself from the ugly roller-coaster he's been riding for the past dozen of years._**

* * *

**_For that night Brooklyn had one thing in common with Ashley, which was that they were both emotionally tired. And the irony is that Ashley happens to be from Brooklyn. But Brooklyn was feeling really pretty that night, the borough of course- The lights were out, The chilly air was fresh, and Ashley's heart was especially feeling pretty. But Dolph again seemed to not really notice all of this._**

Dolph puts on his coat as they step outside of Ashley's studio, "I definitely feel like I'm a better artist now," Dolph says, "Watching you do your thing was pretty spectacular," Dolph continues.

Ashley smiles as she too throws on her navy-blue coat on, "Well thank you," Ashley says, as she locks up the art studio.

Ashley and Dolph walk down the street, "So, where are you headed," Dolph asks, trying to see if they are both taking the same path in this big city.

**_Was this the magical moment where Dolph and Ashley finally spend the night together?_**

Ashley slightly moves in closer to Dolph, "I actually am meeting my friend over at the bridge," Ashley says and continues, "She's in Queens, but we live in Mahattan, so we'd figure we would both share a cab together," Ashley says to Dolph, who seems to ignore her constant casual body-closeness to his.

Dolph looks at Ashley surprised, "How do you do it," Dolph asks Ashley, "Manhattan is quite a while away from Brooklyn, can you afford that many cab fare's," Dolph asks, truly surprised with Ashley's hectic lifestyle.

Ashley laughs and puts her hand on his arm, "Of course not, I usually take the subway here, but since it's late, you know," Ashley responds, wondering where this is all could be going.

**_Ashley was desperately wanting this to happen; her and Dolph spending the magical night in togetherness. Was he going to ask her to stay at his place or does he want to go over to her place, it was all exciting for Ashley._**

Dolph grabs her arm and hugs her, "Well, if it works for you," Dolph says, he then turns around, "I actually have to go this way, but it was nice spending more time with you, stay safe," Dolph says, as he waves goodbye to Ashley and walks the opposite way.

_**...But none of it was magical, it was a total let-down for Ashley.**_

Ashley watches as he walks away, "Okay, bye," Ashley says to Dolph, as the two walk further away from each other in opposite directions.

_**So lonely Ashley walked quickly to the Brooklyn Bridge, and all along the walk she wondered why Dolph wasn't making a move. They spent a whole day together, yet Dolph still seemed uninterested, like he wouldn't give her a chance.**_

* * *

_**It seemed like everybody wanted to be given a chance, including Torrie. But after trying to be extra-nice to Emma and after trying to make a good first impression, Torrie eventually gave up.**_

Emma squints her eyes and stares at Torrie's _Louis Vuitton _purse, "Wow, nice bag you've got there," Emma says, cheering Torrie up a little, until... "Did my father buy that for you," Emma says, as she gives Torrie a mockery smile.

Torrie gives her a smile and simply brushes the sting off, "No, actually, I purchased it with my own money," Torrie says back to Emma.

"Money that my father gave you," Emma says, questioning Torrie's character, "I didn't know he payed women to service him," Emma says and continues, "What'd you have to do," Emma finally finishes off.

**_But Torrie knew that this Emma girl would never come to like her, so she instead dealt with it by trying to keep her grace and elegance._**

Torrie laughs and turns to Brock, "I'm gonna go," Torrie says, excusing herself out, "It was a nice dinner," Torrie says, giving Brock a final kiss on the cheek.

She then waves to Emma and walks out, keeping her classy attitude and avoiding any further rude comments from Emma. But while she walked out, she expected Brock to come and stop her, but to her surprise, he stayed behind and she left the Lesnar's residence.

**_So Torrie came to terms that she and Emma will never be friends, she also came to terms that Brock is still playing with fire on thin ice._**

* * *

**_And I myself was playing on thin ice too, because I decided to give the 'rebound guy' a call._**

Michelle waits to hear his voice, when finally he picks up, "Hey, thanks for picking up," Michelle says through the phone, "Is their any chance I can come over to your place," Michelle says, waiting for Sheamus to respond.

His voice finally comes through, "No, I'm sorry," Sheamus tells her, "I have somewhere to be tomorrow morning," Sheamus says.

**_And just like I did to him earlier, he also rejected me. I should've seen that coming._**

Michelle shakes her head and regrets calling him, "Okay, It's fine, I guess it's my fault for calling this late," Michelle says to him through the phone.

She pauses for a second, "Well, I better get going," Michelle says, but Sheamus hung up before she could even finish that sentence.

Michelle stares at her phone and then continues to walk down the cold night, when she suddenly turns around and sticks her foot out onto the curb.

**_Just when I was about to take my lonely ass back home, where I would have to watch Mark having a blast with his new possible girlfriend... I remembered that I had earlier told Ashley that I would meet her at the Brooklyn Bridge, because I was so sure that I would be invited to Sheamus's place in Queens, so off I went._**

Michelle swings her arm in the air, "TAXI," Michelle yells to the incoming Taxi-Cab.

Michelle waits and finally watches as it stops for her, "Brooklyn Bridge, Hurry," She yells to the Cab-Driver, as she throws herself in the cab.

* * *

**_In just 12 fast minutes, I made it from Manhattan Avenue to the Brooklyn Bridge._**

Michelle looks through the window, "Ashley, get in," Michelle yells, to lonely Ashley, who just looks around.

Ashley runs to the cab, "I thought you would be on the bridge," Michelle says to Ashley, as she makes room for her.

Ashley closes the door and turns to her, "Some creepy homeless guy wouldn't stop making eye-contact with me, so I came over here," Ashley says.

"Typical Brooklyn, why do you think I rushed over here," Michelle says, as she checks the Cab meter.

Ashley shakes her head, "Well I thought Dolph would maybe cross over to Manhattan with me," Ashley says, putting on her seat-belt.

"I pretty much went through the same thing tonight with Sheamus, but I did it first to Sheamus, so it's my fault," Michelle says to Ashley.

Ashley turns to her, "Rebound guy," Ashley asks, "Are you serious," Ashley says, stunned with Michelle's choice.

Michelle turns away and looks out at the window, "Mark brought a girl over, so I thought I might as well give Sheamus a shot, which is why I told you I would be over at Queens," Michelle says, with a lower tone of voice.

Ashley stays quite for a moment, "They say give 'em a chance, but then they screw you over," Ashley says, still wondering why Dolph seems so clueless half of the time.

Ashley goes on with her rambling, "But they never screw you literally," Ashley says, "I mean, I wouldn't mind having Dolph screw me tonight, he's hot, I'm sorry," Ashley says, as she begins to laugh a little.

Michelle turns to her and laughs too, soon enough the Cab-Driver also joined their laughing festival.

**_Although Dolph didn't seem to be giving Ashley a chance and although Sheamus also didn't give me a chance, Brooklyn sure did give us a chance that night. I also learned that the people who know you well, are the ones that are most likely to give you chances. Maybe it's easier to give people chances when it has to do with friendship... but when it comes to love, giving people chances is too risky because love is scary._**

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Sheamus, Brock Lesnar, Dolph Ziggler, Emma 'Lesnar', Brooklyn Barrett, Wade Barrett, Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, and Lisa 'Victoria' Varon.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On April 3, 2015.**


	8. Feminism Plus Some Feelings

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 8: Feminism+Some Feelings**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**If you are a happy woman who dreams of waking up to a fairy-tale, then New York isn't the place you should be moving to. But for one rare morning, Ashley found herself walking the morning streets of Manhattan to have her tea. Except she wasn't just walking to walk, she was on her way to meet Dolph at a small Tea-Party he had invited her to at Alice's Tea Cup. And although Dolph disappointed her a few nights ago back in Brooklyn, she was willing to look past that and continue her crush for him.**_

Ashley speed-walks through the people, when suddenly a bright pink lipstick falls out of Ashley's clutch.

She picks it up and stays crouched down, as she quickly applies some on her lips, just to give a last minute 'pop' to her lips.

_**Rarely does anybody feel fierce and confident at 7:00 a.m, but Ashley sure prepared herself to finally let Dolph know how she really felt about him.**_

Ashley continues to walk down the street; Managing to walk perfectly as she continues to do last minute touch-ups on herself, all while carrying herself in some pretty high heels.

_**Multi-tasking is one gift all New Yorkers carry within themselves and this time Ashley would take that to a whole higher lever; She would tell Dolph how she really feels, all while shoving tea down her throat... and hopefully something else too later, if that's what she's into.**_

* * *

_**And back in the comfort of her own room, Candice found herself wanting to be anywhere in the world, but her room.**_

Candice lightly throws the sheets on her bed, when suddenly Wade interrupts her bed-making fun times.

"You should probably start getting ready right now, we have to take the Staten Island Ferry and that's a hassle," Wade says, with an assumption that Candice will be going to his family's little get-together party.

_**Correction- Candice would be fine anywhere in the world, except her room and that party Wade's family is throwing.**_

Candice ignores him and continues to make the bed, "I'm not going," Candice says, plain and simple.

Wade laughs and then turns to her, "Yes, you're going, whether you like it or not," Wade says, trying not to raise his voice on her.

Candice shakes her head, "You can't force me to go somewhere I don't want to go," Candice says, while she arranges the pillows on the bed.

"Your'e going because I said so, end of story," Wade yells to her.

Candice slightly feels the shivers scare her into agreeing to go, "Whatever, but I'll need at least an hour," Candice says, yet-again letting Wade push her around.

_**Candice was right, no one should be forced to go somewhere, but Candice didn't have the energy to carry on this argument.**_

* * *

_**And in the comfort of my own kitchen, I too found myself wanting to be anywhere in the world, but my kitchen.**_

Michelle takes out the bell peppers and puts them in the fridge, "Hey Mark, do you want a quick sandwich," Michelle yells to him, waiting for him to respond.

Mark walks in the kitchen, "No, I'm fine, but thanks," Mark says, as he helps her put the groceries away.

_**I was trying to keep the 'So, tell me about your new lover?' question under the rug, but in order for me to come to terms with it and accept it, I had to casually bring it up.**_

Michelle folds the paper bag and she also folds the silence away, "So, tell me about this Victoria woman," Michelle asks.

Mark turns to her and smiles, "Are you sure you feel comfortable talking about that," Mark asks, puzzled with Michelle.

"I don't mind, that's what friends are for, to talk about topics like this," Michelle says, clearing up the room from any awkward feelings.

_**Except I did mind, but I was going to go on either way.**_

Mark stops and turns to her, "I don't know, we both have a lot in common and I have this huge attraction to her," Mark says as he continues to make eye-contact with Michelle, "The funny thing is that we've been friends for about three years now," Mark goes on, with his mind on Victoria.

Michelle breaks off the eye-contact, her watery eyes tell too much, "Well do you think she likes you back," Michelle says as she continues to put a few more groceries away.

"I think she does," Mark says while he joins in and helps Michelle out, "Hopefully I'll be making her my girlfriend soon," Mark says.

Michelle puts her hand on his arm, "Well I'll be cheering for you two, always," Michelle says, somewhat feeling happy that he is happy.

_**I was genuinely happy for him and I was simply comforting his feelings, but I was keeping my feelings in the cold dark.**_

* * *

_**While I kept my feelings in the cold dark, Ashley was just about to let her feelings blossom like a spring flower.**_

Ashley smiles as she watches Dolph walk into the Tea-Place, "Over here," Ashley waves to Dolph, as she waits for him to walk over.

_**This was the moment when Ashley would finally tell Dolph what she's been trying to tell him for the past few weeks... until something goes the other way.**_

Ashley notices Dolph walking in with another man, the two finally approach Ashley, "You look so lovely," Dolph says to Ashley.

Ashley smiles and waits for Dolph to introduce her to this mystery man he brought along.

"Ashley this is Johnny, I call him Fandango as a joke though," Dolph says as he puts his arm around the man's shoulder.

_**And something that went the other way... was apparently Dolph himself. **_

Accidentally, an odd smiles shines across Ashley's confused face, "Oh, nice to meet you Johnny... or Fandango," Ashley says, finding it alerting that Dolph is being too touchy with him.

Dolph holds his hand and the two take a seat next to Ashley, "Isn't this place adorable, me and my boyfriend are obsessed with this place," Dolph says to Ashley, as he continues to keep his hand in Fandango's hand.

_**And their it was, Ashley was crushing on a gay man. Haven't we all been there? One thing that really helps avoiding this, Is having Gaydar! But like every other New Yorker, Ashley didn't have Gaydar. Here in New York, we see millions of people walking around and we see thousands of Broadway theatre's around, yet we seem to be too busy to actually wonder about the person's sexual orientation or who takes part in those campy Broadway musicals.**_

Ashley sits there, awkwardly smiling, "This place is cute, like you two," Ashley says, trying to appear casual.

"We're not always cute," Fandango says as he leans his head on Dolph's shoulder, "You should've seen us when we broke up a couple of weeks ago, it was an ugly break up," Fandango tells Ashley as he laughs.

Ashley try's to tentatively listen, "Yeah, but we couldn't live without each other, so we eventually got back together, last night actually," Dolph says, looking over the menu, "Isn't that crazy," Dolph says, turning to Ashley.

Ashley nods and smiles, "Yeah, totally insane," Ashley says as she purposely drops her napkin, so that she could have an excuse to pick it up and wipe her bright pink lipstick off without anybody seeing her do so.

_**Just like the napkin, Ashley also dropped every ounce of feelings she had for Dolph.**_

* * *

_**Torrie, on the other hand, dropped every ounce of contact with Brock. The two were on a short break, but she still had feelings for Brock. **_

Torrie walks down a Central Park pathway, when she suddenly feels an arm reach out for her's.

Torrie looks up and the man's eyes meet her's, it's none other than Brock.

_**And there, On a regular Central Park morning, Torrie ran into the man she's been avoiding for the past few days.**_

Brock smiles, "Torrie, how's your break from me going," Brock says grabbing her hand to hold it, "I've missed you, just thought I would let you know," Brock says to Torrie.

Torrie gives Brock a smile, "I've missed you too, but this short break is healthy for our relationship," Torrie says, feeling a little anxious that Brock might dump her soon or break the 'short break' rule by taking her out right now.

Brock laughs and shakes his head, "I know," Brock says as he then pulls a note from his back pocket, "Anyway, I'm glad I ran into you, because I'm throwing this small party over at The Hamptons and I want you to come, it's in a few days," Brock says handing over the address of the beach house to Torrie.

Torrie looks over the note, "Okay, I'll think about it," Torrie says, already knowing she most likely won't go.

Brock kisses Torrie's forehead, "Well, try to go," Brock says as he walks off, only to turn back around seconds later, "Oh and Torrie, I also wanted to tell you that I can't keep living through this 'short break' you're putting on us, so if you don't show up to the party, I will know that we are officially broken up," Brock says to Torrie, as he finally does walk off.

Torrie stands there watching Brock walk further away, with her head full of thoughts.

_**Torrie was positive she wouldn't show up to Brock's party earlier, but now their was a twist added to her decision. And in the middle of Central Park, Torrie watched her boyfriend or maybe ex-boyfriend leave her with a tricky question; Does Torrie want Brock as her past or does Torrie want Brock as her future &amp; present?**_

* * *

_**Unlike Torrie, Candice was already solving the tricky questions of her life. One by One, Candice was discovering realizations and she was picking up on a few things her husband was playing on her.**_

The Barrett family walks towards the home of Wade's family in Staten Island, except Wade loses his pace and stays behind instead.

Candice turns around, "Wade, what are you doing," Candice says, watching as Wade leans on the mailbox.

"I'll be there in a few, just let me make a quick call," Wade says, pulling out his phone and going through his long list of contacts.

_**And right away Candice knew what her predictable husband would go on to do, after all he does do this almost every day.**_

Candice points to the door and signals Brooklyn to go inside alone, "I'm going to see what your father is doing," Candice whispers to Brooklyn as she waits for Brooklyn to go inside the house.

Candice begins to walk down the driveway of Wade's family home, when she suddenly stops herself and instead turns around.

_**But Candice wasn't going to handle this the way she usually handles this, she instead was going to take advantage of the fact that Staten Island homes actually have lawns with bushes and other trees in front- Made perfectly for her to spy on her suspicious husband, Yay for the suburbs.**_

Candice carefully walks behind the bush and stand there, watching as her husband waits for this person to pick up.

"_Hey Baby," _Candice over-hears her husband say on the phone.

Candice's face quickly turns sour, but the anger that almost drags her out to drag him stays rooted. She instead continues to stay hidden behind the bushes, wanting to hear more about this 'baby' her husband apparently has.

* * *

_**And back in Manhattan, other people already had the answers to their tricky questions? After weeks of crushing on Dolph and after only an hour of knowing Dolph was actually gay, Ashley was ready to retire herself from this embarrassing and humiliating rainbow roller-coaster.**_

Ashley takes a bite out of her red velvet cake, wondering if her feelings for Dolph are somehow also being consumed by this new label she had discovered about him, because second by second the crush Ashley had for Dolph was slowly fading away.

Ashley looks up and she makes eye-contact with Dolph, "Sorry, I'm just enjoying this piece of cake too much," Ashley says as she chuckles and covers her mouth.

Dolph smiles, "Looks like you're having a blast," Dolph says sarcastically, referring to Ashley's sudden minimal talking. Ashley smiles and continues to eat.

Fandango get's up from his seat, "A girl's got to eat, right," Fandango says, laughing as he rubs his elbow on Ashley's arm, "I'll be at the restroom now, be right back," Fandango says, walking down the hallway.

Ashley watches him walk away, she then turns to Dolph and get's her stuff, "Look, I have to go now, but thanks for all of this," Ashley says, dropping a twenty dollar bill on the table.

"Oh and by the way, I got you this Cyndi Lauper album, because I knew how much you loved her," Ashley says, placing the _She's So Unusual _album on the table.

Dolph looks at her, beyond confused, but also starting to read between the lines, so he get's up and follows her.

Dolph follows Ashley through the small table room and then through the front register room, "Ashley, hold up," Dolph yells, now running up the few outside stair-steps of the tea place.

Ashley holds back the tears and finally decides to turn around, "Dolph, look, I had a crush on you, do you know how embarrassed and humiliated I feel right now," Ashley says, feeling hopeless.

_**And in that moment, Ashley had admitted to the feelings she once had for a man who would never have feelings for her.**_

Dolph looks down; feeling guilty that he couldn't even tell Ashley had these feelings for him and also feeling guilty that he never bothered to tell her about his sexual preference, "Don't be embarrassed or humiliated, if I've learned anything from my life, it's that you just can't control what your heart wants," Dolph says, wanting Ashley to find a friend within his gay self.

A tear streams down Ashley's cheek, "No, don't feel bad, you probably go through much more than a heterosexual woman like me," Ashley says with a pause, "Just go back in, I'll be fine," Ashley finishes off, as she turns around to look for an open Taxi-Cab.

**_'Alice's Tea Cup' or 'Ashley's Tear Cup'._**

Dolph walks towards her, but he can tell Ashley is in a hurry to get out of this ridiculous fairy-tale plot-twist, so he turns around and walks back inside.

Ashley waves her hand in the air, but after almost two minutes of no Cab's stopping for her, she instead takes a walk home.

_**Like most women from time to time, Ashley found herself making that walk of shame, except their was no sex involved. Instead she felt her legs break in those heels she insisted on wearing and her mind was also a little shattered after the news she had discovered, but her heart had been broken before this tragedy even occurred and she could also hear the cake fest rumbling badly in her stomach. And just like her, Dolph and Fandango also had a cake fest of their own later that evening... and by cake fest, I mean butt-sex.**_

* * *

_**And later at Central Park.**_

With two bagels in her hand, Michelle searches around the long path of benches, when she finally spots Torrie sitting in one.

Michelle rushes over and sits down, "I am now officially, almost ready to move on," Michelle says as she hands Torrie one of the bagels.

Torrie looks up and takes the bagel without hesitating, "That's great, how have you been," Torrie exclaims as she puts her book aside.

"I don't know, Mark's found somebody new, so now it's my turn move on, right," Michelle wonders, trying to look at this through someone else's point of view.

Torrie looks at her for a second, "Sure... but everybody works differently, maybe you still need more time or maybe you just need to find that one right guy," Torrie says, trying to help Michelle out.

**_Do I have a chance to move on or is Mark moving on faster than I am? Am I just a girl crying on the side, while he is some man who is striving and continuing on with his life._**

Michelle rips a piece of her bagel off and eats it, "Have I told you about this one Jewish guy I met at a club," Michelle says, trying to convince herself that Sheamus is that 'one right guy'.

"Are you talking about that Sheamus guy," Torrie says as she questions Michelle's logic in love, "Maybe he's not the one that'll help you move on, if you want me to be honest with you, I think you should continue looking," Torrie says.

Michelle turns to her, "Well, I called him earlier and he told me I could come over to his place in Queens, so maybe then I'll get to emotionally love him more, hopefully," Michelle says, feeling somewhat silly that she'd throw herself that far just to catch up to Mark's state of love.

**_Maybe Torrie was right, maybe I just need to lay back and let time do it's magic... but it won't hurt to force my heart to somehow get attached to that Sheamus guy._**

Torrie shakes her head and shrugs, "Well, things between me and Brock aren't going any better," Torrie says, also trying to find help for her own tricky feelings.

Michelle looks at her confused, "Is he upset that you asked for a break, I mean it's not like you asked for a break up, because trust me, their's a difference," Michelle says, not understanding the logic of some men.

Torrie again shrugs, "I don't know, I ran into him a couple of minutes ago and he invited me to his party," Torrie says as she takes a pause, "And then he threatened me, that if I didn't go, he would officially break up with me," Torrie exclaims.

Michelle laughs and shakes her head, "Darling, he doesn't own you and if he really is putting out the 'break up' threat against you, then he obviously sees the relationship as a joke and he sees you as his object doll," Michelle says, somewhat surprised that she can help others out, but not herself.

"Well I still don't know, but to clear it up, I don't think he ever purchased me at Toys 'R' Us, so he can go find some other random Barbie doll to play around with," Torrie says as she laughs and takes a big bite out of her bagel.

_**Throughout the rest of this conversation, we both couldn't help it, we had to consider the advice we both gave to each other. Maybe we were obsessed with these feelings, because Central Park was booming with beautiful spring sightings, but all we could think about were our own pathetic confusing feelings.**_

* * *

**_And after listening to her husband's conversation with this mystery person on the phone, Candice was finally getting tired and she was finally admitting to herself that her husband is most likely cheating..._**

Wade is surprised, when he sees his wife oddly coming out from behind the bushes, "I have to go," Wade whispers on the phone, "Talk to you later, okay bye," Wade exclaims, trying to casually play the call off.

"Who is that on the phone," Candice says as she rushes towards Wade, "Put her on speaker," Candice yells as she try's to grab the phone from Wade.

Wade grabs her wrist and pushes it away, "It's no one," Wade says as he turns around to walk inside.

But before Wade can escape, Candice quickly snatches the phone from Wade's hand, "Wade, please, who are you f*cking that's not me, I need to know," Candice yells as she turns around to go through his phone.

Wade grabs her shoulder and forces her back, "You f*cking crazy b*tch, give me my phone back," Wade yells, again forcing the phone out of Candice's grip.

Candice helplessly watches as her husband emotionally and physically pushes her around, "Wade, you are destroying this family," Candice cries out to him.

Wade walks away, "And what about you, you're not that innocent in this falling," Wade says as he continues to walk away, "You're always b*tching about something," Wade yells.

Candice quickly catches up to Wade and she get's her hands in his face without touching him, "Look you bastard, you are ruining this family, Brooklyn is going to be devastated when he finds out," Candice yells in his face as she watches him almost not even care, "What a man, you have no balls to admit that you're a cheater," Candice says, finally backing off of him when she notices his hand come up.

Wade grabs Candice by her dress-straps, "DO YOU EVER JUST SHUT UP," Wade yells, as his hand goes across Candice's face.

**_And in that moment, Candice officially lost all respect and love for Wade. So did I and so did ever other feminists out there in the world._**

Wade turns to his side and then walks away, feeling somewhat guilty with what he just did.

Candice stays there, with her hand on her pink cheek and with a tear rolling down that same cheek.

* * *

**_After our little brunch in Central Park, Torrie walked back home and she of course found this time helpful to think about her two options set out by Brock for them two._**

Torrie feels the beautiful spring-time calling her, but she still can't hear heart's verdict on whether or not Brock and her should stay together.

Torrie looks ahead of her, where she sees at least six happy couples roaming around the heart of Manhattan, which is when she wishes Brock were there with her to do the same.

**_And just like those couples were roaming the heart of Manhattan, Brock was roaming in the heart of Torrie. Whenever you take a short break from someone there's a simple way of knowing whether or not you should continue being together. And Torrie realized that she still want's to be with Brock, because if she misses him now, she'll him later too._**

Torrie smiles and continues to walk past the green side of Manhattan, enjoying every moment... sometimes, but she's sticking by the good and the bad moments. Similar to the lover side of Torrie, she enjoyed almost every moment of it, so she's going to stick by.

**_So Torrie went home to pick out a dress for her to wear to Brock's party in a week, one that screams 'I'm staying with you, but only because I said so.'_**

* * *

**_Ashley's current appearance was screaming 'My confidence level has gone down again and I hate everybody'. Walking is big in New York, Ashley was doing it too and that's all I'm going to say, because Ashley was too humiliated to say that their was more to this messy day of her's. So Ashley continued to simply walk... angrily._**

Ashley continues to speed-walk past the people, so that she could cry in the comfort and privacy of her own home.

She feels her phone vibrating and she looks down, only to see Dolph's phone number come up on her phone's screen again.

Ashley ignores the phone and puts it back in her purse, "No thank you, I already feel like a fool," Ashley whispers to herself.

**_If only Ashley knew that her value couldn't be held or evaluated by anybody else, but herself._**

* * *

**_Some people, like Ashley, are afraid of ever feeling like a fool, but tonight I was going to put that on the line. Although I knew very well that Sheamus wasn't the guy that would help me move on from my ex-husband, I convinced myself that it wouldn't hurt to just give it a chance._**

"It's good to see you," Sheamus says, as he closes the door behind Michelle.

Michelle turns back to Sheamus, "Well I thought we could maybe give this a second try," Michelle says, as she looks around his studio apartment, trying to think of something for them to do.

Sheamus turns off the television, "Apartments in New York are pointless, unless it's to have sex, so we should go out some place," Sheamus says, as he waits for Michelle to respond.

"Okay, What's the best place in Queens," Michelle asks, ignoring the sex part of the sentence.

Sheamus looks at her and smiles, "My bed," Sheamus says as the two laugh, "No, but seriously, I'm not sure," Sheamus says, still laughing a little.

_**His bad jokes and obvious hints didn't make me agree on sex... but my optimistic views on a possible love did.**_

After making their way to Sheamus's bed, Michelle counted to see when her heart will finally open up to Sheamus.

Sheamus excitedly got prepared, while Michelle waited and she was only doing this because 'Why Not?'.

Michelle lies under Sheamus's bed-sheets, waiting for Sheamus to get himself 'ready'.

"You should not wear clothes more often, you have a sexy figure," Sheamus says, staring at Michelle's naked body.

Michelle gives him a flirtatious smile, but in reality she's bored out of her mind and doesn't really even want to be in his bed, "Let's do this already," Michelle whispers as she waits for Sheamus to just get it in.

Sheamus get's on the bed and lies on top of her, he then begins to slip it inside of Michelle. The two make eye-contact and Sheamus even kisses her on the neck, but Michelle feels nothing whatsoever.

**_And then I realized that their was no real valid reason for me to sleep with him. Sheamus's d*ck sure slipped in me, but he himself never slipped into my heart. So I stood up for my female rights and decided to keep my pride... by crying._**

Sheamus slowly thrusts himself further in, when he then hears Michelle crying a little.

He get's up and throws the sheets off, "What's going on, are you fine," Sheamus says, struck with Michelle's choice to suddenly cry in the middle of sex.

**_"Crying In Sex", it was a first for the both of us._**

Michelle sits up and covers her breasts with the sheets, "I'm sorry, It's not you, I'm just not ready to do this," Michelle says as she get's up from the bed, "My ex-husband is having this beautiful romantic time with the woman his heart desires, and I'm here, Sleeping with a guy who I desperately met at some club and who I honestly don't even have feelings for," Michelle cries out as she walks out of the room.

**_So I walked out with my exposed body and with my exposed heart._**

Michelle stands in the living room, embarrassed with her timing to cry. But she's too busy to notice that she's standing right in front of an open window, which people can see through.

Michelle then hears an older woman gasp, "Oh, oh no," Michelle yells as she covers her breasts, "I'm sorry," Michelle yells to the passing old lady and the young boy.

**_Could it get any worse?_**

* * *

_**For Candice it couldn't get any worse, she was too broken to still care. But she couldn't just ditch Staten Island for Manhattan, she was stuck in the Staten Island suburbs, it's too far for her to head back to Manhattan and the only way to get over here is through the Staten Island Ferry.**_

After an hour of staying outside to take it all in and cry a little more, Candice was finally sitting inside with Wade's family.

Candice sits there with Brooklyn, but no one talks to her or even notices her- It might be the dried up tears or it might be the fact that Wade's family has never really liked Candice.

Candice then over-hears Wade's voice, so she rolls her eyes and grunts under her breath.

"Are you ready to go home too," Candice says to Brooklyn.

**_And Candice decided not to tell Brooklyn about his father's affair that night, she instead would allow herself to process this new discovery on her own and then share it with him. For the mean time, Candice knew something soon would be changing, but for now she was simply going to keep her fabulous smile alive, without letting the tears drown it._**

* * *

**_I, on the other hand, was able to ditch Sheamus's place in Queens and head back to Manhattan. But in now way did I feel fabulous._**

After quickly throwing her clothes on, Michelle walks out towards the door, she then turns around, "I'm so embarrassed right now and I'm also sorry," Michelle says as she hides her face under her jacket.

Sheamus doesn't respond, until she finally walks out, "By the way, don't ever call me again or bother me again," Sheamus says to Michelle, followed by a closed door to Michelle's face.

Michelle stares back and then walks off, feeling like the whole world knows about this embarrassing story, so she continues to hide under her un-fashionable black jacket.

_**And that day became known as the day I cried while having sex. But I also consider that day, as the day I stood up for my feminists beliefs in not sleeping with a man, unless you absolutely love him. Oh and I never again heard of Sheamus, but I didn't care, because I honestly never cared in the first place. Although my day was crappy, it was somewhat relieving that I finally crossed the 'Rebound Guy Bridge' and now I could finally move on, when I do find that one guy.**_

After walking down a few blocks, Michelle finally looks up and removes her black jacket. She then carries on, feeling like she's on top of the world and also feeling like she truly does own herself.

For every step of her heel, there would be two more to her heart.

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Wade Barrett, Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Dolph Ziggler, Johnny 'Fandango' Curtis, Brooklyn Barrett, Brock Lesnar, and Sheamus.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On April 12, 2015.**


	9. Love Is Overrated

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 9: Love Is Overrated**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**Every human being is addicted to a little drug known as love. Love can be the greatest feeling on earth, but it can also be the most destructful. You can go from loving a person, to hating that same person. And Candice knew that her love was slowly but surely turning into hatred, Wade should've never taken her love for granted. After the explosive fight they had over Wade's confirmed affair, the two haven't been speaking much. Candice is over Wade's games and she no longer cares for him, although he still annoys her occasionally.**_

Candice grabs her beige _Burberry _raincoat and begins to button it up, she concentrates on the heavy rain outside of her penthouse large window, instead of her husband's voice.

Wade stops speaking when he finally realizes that his words are just dropping out of Candice's ear, "Did you hear me," Wade wonders, raising his voice so that maybe Candice can finally snap out of it.

Candice looks up, "Sure," Candice says, being far too busy tying up the belt of her raincoat to even hear Wade out.

Wade shakes his head, "Screw you, why don't you just leave already, I can't stand being in the same room as you," Wade yells as he walks back to their bedroom.

Candice watches him walk away and disappear into their bedroom, without anything left to say, she instead turns her back on him.

_**She gave up on him, but he gave up on her first. **_

Candice picks up her umbrella and walks out of the penthouse, feeling lots of emotions, but showing none whatsoever. For the sake of her sanity.

* * *

_**On that same rainy day, I was also feeling lots of emotions, but showing none whatsoever. For the sake of me and for the sake of everybody else.**_

"Looks like I'm going to see a movie tonight," Mark says, walking in with his blushing face.

Michelle laughs and pats him on the shoulder, "That's great," she says, when she suddenly sees Victoria walking in too, "Oh, Hi," Michelle says to Victoria.

Victoria smiles and shyly follows Mark inside, "Hi, nice to see you again," Victoria says, shaking the hand of her boyfriend's ex-wife as their eyes meet.

"So, are you two dating now," Michelle asks, trying to keep her nose out of this so-called love business.

Mark puts his arm around Victoria and Victoria awkwardly smiles on, "Pretty much, yeah, we're dating and we're even planning on moving in together," Mark says.

_**It looks like Mark does get everything he wanted. He wanted to move out into a nice apartment, which he's getting now, except this one comes with a pre-installed girlfriend, which he also wanted.**_

The concern in Michelle peeks out for a second, "What about your apartment, what ever happened to that," Michelle says, trying hard not to ruin the moment, but she can't help it.

"Well, the broker wanted a higher fee, so I had to back out," Mark says as he turns to look at Victoria, "So, Victoria suggested that living together wouldn't be such a bad idea. After all we do work at the same office and we pretty much live the same lifestyle," Mark says.

Victoria bumps Mark on the arm, "I'm sorry, I don't think you want to be hearing about us, which I understand," Victoria says to Michelle.

Michelle bursts out in laughter, "Oh, no, It's fine, I'm fine, It's fine," Michelle says, noticing the exaggerated response, so she slows her self down, "Trust me, it's fine, I'm happy for you two," Michelle calmly says.

Victoria and Mark freeze, "Okay then, well we should get going, the movie starts in a few minutes and we don't want to miss it," Victoria says as she pulls on Mark's arm, "It was nice seeing you Michelle," Victoria says, with one foot already outside of the apartment.

"Well catch you later," Mark says, trying to keep up with Victoria's fast motion.

Michelle leans on the counter as she watches clumsy Mark run off to follow Victoria down the stairs, something he always did when he and Michelle were together.

_**Watching Mark and Victoria running off to their love-filled times was neat, but love is just too cheesy and overrated anyways. At least that's what I was convincing myself to believe.**_

* * *

_**Torrie, on the other hand, still believed in love. Her love went from Manhattan to the Hamptons and all over the world if it had to.**_

After waiting and wondering on whether or not Torrie wanted to continue this relationship, Brock finally opened the door and found the answer to his long awaited question.

Brock stands in the doorway, smiling as he gives Torrie a wink. Torrie smiles back and the heavy Hampton winds make the reunion even more dramatic.

Brock quickly pulls Torrie in for a kiss, "So, it looks like we're still dating," Brock says as the two hug it out.

"I'm sorry, for everything, but I don't want to stop, I'd like to continue with you," Torrie whispers into Brock's ear.

Brock kisses her on the neck, "I'm sorry too, and it's definitely too early to stop now," Brock whispers, as he pulls Torrie inside the beach-house.

_**So the two were still a couple and Torrie found that this was definitely a rejuvenation to their relationship.**_

* * *

_**Meanwhile in Manhattan, another mini-reunion was happening. After weeks, Ashley and I finally reunited with the busy Candice at my apartment. The last time I personally saw her, was when she had that big blowout with her husband Wade at the dinner party she was throwing. But, I talk to her on a daily occasion, so I'm all caught up with some of her spiraling marriage.**_

"I just, I don't have faith that our marriage can get any better, I've just given up on him," Candice says, almost making no big deal about it.

Michelle and Ashley look at each other, "Well, we're supporting you, with whatever decision you do decide to make," Michelle says, trying to empower this troublesome woman.

Ashley nods in agreement and then chooses to make her own point too, "It seems like you and Wade are just repeating this vicious cycle, maybe it's just me, but I think love is stupid and it makes you feel stupid and it gives you these stupid feelings too," Ashley rants on, with some of her own problems sneaking in.

Candice shakes her head and takes her raincoat off, "I completely agree, especially if they cheat on you," Candice says, exposing the truth and dropping a bomb on the two women.

Michelle gasps and Ashley knows to keep her pity problems aside for now, "Wow, I'm so sorry Candice," Michelle says, now understanding the seriousness of this case.

Ashley reaches her hand out for Candice, "What an asshole, Candice, you are too good of a woman, I don't understand why he would do that," Ashley says, truly angry with Wade's poor decisions.

Candice shrugs, "I'm still running it through my head, but I think he thinks that I will stay down, like I have been doing for the past decade that we've been married for, but I won't, I'll figure it out eventually," Candice says, keeping a small fire of hope inside of her.

_**In that second I learned that my problems weren't worth sharing. Because me and Mark had no real problems, he and Victoria were happy and I need to learn to accept that they are happy, without being negative. Although I'll keep telling myself I don't need love, I want love someday, but for now I am happy alone, while Mark happens to be happy with Victoria. **_

Ashley get's up, "Well, I better get going, I kind of have something to do," Ashley says, feeling somewhat inspired by Candice.

Michelle turns to Ashley, "You better apologize to that Dolph guy, trust me, gay's make for fabulous friends," Michelle says, then turning to Candice, "Oh yeah, Ashley had a crush on a gay man," Michelle informs to Candice.

"Really, Michelle, any-who..., off I go to make my life even more fabulous," Ashley says laughing as she steps out of the apartment.

* * *

_**Back at The Hamptons, Torrie was feeling more fabulous than ever standing next to her boyfriend at such amazing beach-party. But the more she stood by, the more she lost her self-worth. Second by second it seemed like people would drag her and her character down.**_

Brock continues to talk about who-knows-what with his prestigious male friend, while Torrie simply laughs when she notices the cues and she simply keeps herself quite for the rest of the times.

"Well, If I may say so myself, It seems like your stocks are just going high up," The older woman says with a pause, "But, on the other hand, your dating life is just stumbling way down," The woman says as she critiques Torrie and almost forgets that Torrie is standing right in front of her.

Torrie squeezes Brock's arm to help her keep calm, "No, come on now, Torrie's wonderful," Brock says, trying to defend her and himself for that matter.

The man and woman laugh, "Okay, well if you say so," The woman says, as she continues to laugh in Torrie's face.

"What do you do anyways," The woman asks, but before Torrie can respond she continues, "Are you like a model or an actress, No you're too pretty to be good at acting, unless you're an actress for, maybe say... adult films," The woman suggests, creating this false cover for Torrie's book.

Torrie gives her a smile and again try's to keep calm, "No, I'm a writer for this daily article I do about different topics, I've even been nominated for a few writing awards," Torrie proudly says.

The woman dismisses her response and goes back to talking with the two men. So Torrie continues to posture herself closer to Brock while he carries on with his business conversations with his fellow professionals.

* * *

_**Minutes later in the cab, while making her way to Dolph, the braveness within Ashley started to die out a little. She could easily vanish and save herself from any further embarrassment and never see Dolph again if she wanted to, New York is a big city after all... or she could make a new friend out of the millions of New Yorkers.**_

Ashley's hands begin to move impatiently on her lap, when she suddenly began to question the logic in the idea of turning her heterosexual former crush into her new gay friend. Was is it too complicated?

"_Okay, radio listeners, this next one's a little throwback to the 80s_," The radio-broadcaster says, as the first few seconds of the song play out in the cab. The song happens to be _"__True Colors" _by Cyndi Lauper.

Ashley ignores the song for a moment and instead looks out the cab window, which is covered with rain drops.

But once Ashley hears the voice, she recognizes it and it becomes too hard to ignore, "Cyndi Lauper," Ashley whispers to herself as _True Colors _continues to play in the background.

_**Ashley strongly believed in the universe and it's messages through coincidences, she also believed in giving people chances. Once she heard the song, she quickly ditched the 'pros &amp; cons' list she was making in her mind.**_

* * *

_**Just like Ashley, Candice and Wade were also finishing up their 'pros &amp; cons' list, except their choices are a bit more serious. Marriage with Insanity, Divorce with Hopelessness, or Separation with Sadness?**_

"What are we doing," Wade asks Candice as he watches her walk inside their penthouse.

Candice hangs her raincoat on the wall hook by the door, she then proceeds to walk to the bathroom.

"Stop being a b*tch and answer me," Wade yells to Candice, "I asked you a question," Wade yells, trying to get a hold of Candice's ears.

Candice sighs and turns to him, "What, what do you want me to say," Candice yells to Wade, "The real question here is what were you doing... do you really expect me to hang onto this, I am done Wade, that's what I am doing, I am finding a way to finish this thing we had."

Wade shakes his head and grunts, "A divorce, is that what you're instigating," Wade says, with his voice significantly lower.

Candice shrugs, "Maybe that's what we need Wade, because this isn't a relationship we can ever fully escape, we have Brooklyn in between us," Candice says with her eyes on the rainy window, "We've been repeating this same vicious cycle and nothing new has come out of it, I am tired," Candice says, with a tear slowly rolling down her cheek.

_**Which is when Candice finally had a moment of clear visions for her future plans, as of now 'Divorce with Hopelessness' is what she's leaning more towards.**_

"GREAT, GUESS WHAT, I'M DONE AND TIRED OF YOU TOO," Wade yells as he stomps to the bedroom, where a loud door-slam is heard from where Candice stands.

Brooklyn also hears the scary door-slam from his bedroom, but instead of emotionally or physically doing anything about it, he instead lies back and goes to sleep. He too is getting tired of this repeating cycle.

Candice falls to the floor on her knees, she then crawls to the couch and lies facing down. With every tear flowing in between the cushions, as she hears the heavy heart pounding inside of her.

* * *

_**And after finally reaching Dolph's destination...**_

Ashley looks across the street and notices Dolph walking near her art studio, so she quickly crosses the street in the midst of the traffic, "Sorry, I have something to do," Ashley yells to the car that stopped and honked in front of her.

Ashley jumps on the curb, "Dolph, wait," Ashley yells, trying to catch her breath.

Dolph looks at her surprised, "Ashley, what are you doing," Dolph says as he runs over to Ashley, "It's so good to see you, I'm just really shocked, I thought you would never want to see me again!"

Ashley waits for a second, she then hugs him after looking at his sweet and nice face, feeling guilty for running out on him when all he wanted was a friend.

"Look, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have reacted in such an emotional way and I should've never held a grudge on you for the indifference of feelings, it was silly," Ashley says.

Dolph shakes his head, "Well, I'm the one who needs to be apologizing, I tried doing it but you became impossible to contact," Dolph says, but right when he was about to start listing his faults, Ashley interrupted him.

Ashley shakes her head, "No, you don't need to apologize, I'm over it," Ashley says as she gives him a smile, "I just want to be friends," Ashley says.

"That's all I ever wanted, I was so disappointed when you left like that, It's happened too many times with most women I've met, I just want a friend," Dolph says, giving Ashley a smile and a nudge.

The two friends walk off, later being joined by Dolph's boyfriend for a three-way fun night.

* * *

**_I, on the other hand, couldn't be more alone than ever... but I was okay with that._**

Michelle's tongue dances as she tastes the buttery salty taste of the soft popcorn in her mouth.

She keeps her eyes up on the theater screen, enjoying every moment of the romantic comedy movie.

For a short second she misses the movie when a couple walks in front of her, but not even that bothers her.

**_I was perfectly fine with being single, plus going out really helps me have a little fun with myself._**

* * *

**_Over at the Hamptons, Torrie needed a short break from everybody else, to spend some time with herself. After being insulted and offended one too many times, Torrie grew tired of brushing it off, so she took an escape to the bathroom._**

Torrie walks down the hall, she walks with her eyes on the floor, not noticing the group of women near the bathroom door.

Torrie feels herself bumping into a body, "Oh, I'm sorry," Torrie says, looking up to see Emma.

Emma looks at her, "For what, for crashing this party or for gold-digging through my fathers soul," Emma yells in her face.

Torrie backs up an inch, "Look Emma, I'm not gonna argue with you, but I'm not gonna let you insult me like that," Torrie says with her hands out.

Emma watches Torrie turn around, "What are you goin' to do about it," Emma yells, with her hand reaching out for Torrie's hair.

"You fake phony whore," Emma yells as she yanks Torrie's hair.

**_So in the middle of this hipster young Hamptons beach-party, Torrie decided to stay classy. Even when surrounded by alcohol, the sea, and a temptation to start a cat fight with Emma- Torrie kept herself gracefully graceful._**

Torrie grabs Emma's hand and untangles her hair from it, she then pushes it away and tilts her head back to standing position. "I'm done!"

Emma and the group of 'women' chuckle as they watch Torrie run down the hall.

* * *

_**Back in Manhattan, well back in Manhattan is the only place Candice will ever stay in. She can't imagine life outside of The City, but her husband was already thinking outside the apple.**_

"Where's my special pillow," Wade asks, to the half-asleep Candice.

Candice rolls her eyes, just hearing his voice tires her mind, "It's in the closet," Candice responds.

Wade makes contact with the beige-yellow pillow, "Ahh, there it is," Wade exclaims, "Well off I go."

But before exiting the room, "By the way, I'll be spending the week at Omni Berkshire Hotel," Wade says.

Candice stays quite and let's him walk out, pretending she's not phased, but she definitely is left thinking.

**_Miles were between Candice and Wade for that night. And it looks like Wade chose the 'Separation With Sadness' choice, although it wasn't official yet, it definitely was starting to become more apparent._**

* * *

**_Love ends, it's just a natural part of this cycle we call life. Torrie's story with Brock started off well, but it was finally going to come to an end._**

Torrie runs by the people, she then reaches the door and walks out.

The light drizzle falls on Torrie's skin, but suddenly a warm touch grabs Torrie's arm.

"Wait, what's going on," Brock wonders, as he desperately tries to prevent his girlfriend from leaving.

Torrie turns to him and just looking at his face makes her cry.

"Brock, you're going on, that's what's wrong, I don't belong in your big fantastic life," Torrie cries out.

Brock wipes the tears away, "Torrie, please, just stop," Brock pleads to her.

"Brock, I have to go," Torrie cries out as she slips out of Brock's grip, "It was great being with you, but I have to be strong and just walk away."

Without any words, Brock watches her helplessly stumble around the sidewalk of love, "Torrie, you were a great one, hopefully you'll find a great one."

Torrie looks up and sighs, as the tears uncontrollably roll down, "Goodbye Brock," Torrie whispers, with her lips trembling of coldness.

Brock get's a good view of her, one last time. The rain then begins to pour down, so he then walks inside.

The traffic finally ends and Torrie runs across the street, with the Hampton's wind blowing her wet hair from every angle.

_**Torrie's tears didn't stop, but at least one thing went right that day. She caught the bus right in time for her single self to go back home. And during those three hours of being stuck in the bus, Torrie tried hard to heal with her broken heart. Almost everybody in that bus looked hopeless, going nowhere to find nothing, but Torrie held on to that optimistic side of her's.**_

* * *

**_Ashley would pick being an optimistic woman who's having a bad day over a hopeless woman who's having good day any day._**

Ashley runs inside her Loft, "Ahh," Ashley yells of coldness as she takes her coat off.

After settling in, Ashley goes through her cellphone and notices two missed calls from her mother.

"_Hello sweetie, I'm calling to let you know that my engagement party is coming soon and I want you to come. Call me back when you get the message." _

Ashley regrets her decision to listen to that voice-mail in the first place.

She throws the phone on the couch and then get's up to get herself a single slice of pie.

_**And just when Ashley thought she could finally stop looking for a 'significant other', her mother made it that much harder.**_

* * *

_**I was still looking for that 'significant other', but maybe I couldn't find him because I was busy thinking about Mark and his significant other.**_

Michelle looks out the window and the dramatic rain makes her wish she had somebody else to be dramatic with. Whilst on that topic, her mind can't help but to shift over to a similar topic; like Mark and Victoria's relationship.

**_I wondered what Mark and Victoria could possibly be doing on such a rainy romantic day like this. Although I made it clear to myself that I had to be okay with Mark and Victoria being together, I still wasn't making it clear to myself that I had to let go of Mark and any ounce of feelings I once had for him. I was like a window; where nobody was able to see, due to the heavy rain droplets._**

Michelle get's up and walks over to the small corner of her small living room, where Mark keeps some of his stuff.

Michelle looks over the folded t-shirts, quickly noticing the suitcase placed under the shirts.

So she picks them up and begins to put them in, without thinking, she continues to pack some of his stuff inside the suitcase.

_**So now, my apartment consisted of my messiness, while Mark's stuff was all packed up in a nice little suitcase. It's like a symbolic metaphor, because my feelings and my life are a mess, while Mark's are slowly starting to come together. The cockroaches and rats found in my apartment represent the past that still haunts me, while the branded clothes laying all over my closet represent the ways I numb myself from ever discovering this craziness some call life, meanwhile the kitchen in my apartment represents the heart inside of me that I don't find myself using too often, and the empty living room represents the comfort I long for, but my small bedroom represents the soul I hope to keep growing... with or without love, I will grow.**_

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Wade Barrett, Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Lisa 'Victoria' Varon, Brock Lesnar, Brooklyn Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, and Emma 'Lesnar'.**

**Music Credit~ 'True Colors' by Cyndi Lauper**

**Written &amp; Created by~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On April 25, 2015.**


	10. The Men Of The City

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 10: The Men Of The City**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**Although love sucked, some of us were still looking for it, digging through the trash just to find just a little love. The other half of the population however, were done with it, Ashley was usually one of the other half, but today she found herself just as desperate as us others. **_

While going through the racks of clothing, the topic of love soon approached Ashley, "Okay, so, my mother is having this stupid engagement party and I am screwed, because I am single and my mother is getting re-married for the fourth time," Ashley pans out as she goes through the racks of clothing, "And everybody knows that my mother will be dissapointed if I come to her engagement party all single, so do you know anybody who might be single," Ashley asks Dolph.

Dolph stops and thinks, "Hmm, not really," Dolph says shaking his head, "Although this might be a crazy absurd idea... but you can maybe try hosting like a 'love booth' kind of thing," Dolph throws out for Ashley to think about, "Guys will show up and you'll probably find somebody out of that bunch, tell me that's a good idea," Dolph exclaims, ready to set his friend up for some love.

Ashley turns to Dolph, "That could work, but It'd take a lot of planning and I don't have that type of time," Ashley says, bursting Dolph's bubble of love.

"Well, I could always plan it for you, just give me a few hours and I'll make it happen," Dolph suggests to her.

Ashley continues to go through the thrift-store clothing rack before giving him an answer, "Fine then, but make sure at least a few of the guys are descent," Ashley says with a chuckle, "So how are you," Ashley asks Dolph.

Dolph shrugs, "I'm fine, well me and Fandango are getting more serious with our relationship, it took us losing each other to know how much we really belong together," Dolph says, with a calmness to his voice.

_**"Why is the man's life so tidy and figured out, did he maybe go on a journey filled with too many struggles to get where he's at?"- Ashley asked herself and so did I, it seemed like he had it all figured out. One can only wish to have it like that, but maybe some of us are still on that journey of up's &amp; down's.**_

"Oh and I'm a few weeks away from finishing my first year of college," Dolph continues as Ashley self-pity's herself, "But, don't worry, I'm a college drop-out, so technically this is my second ride to college life," Dolph adds in, trying to avoid making Ashley feel terrible about herself.

Ashley laughs to erase the awkwardness, "Well, I am your go-to-gal if you ever need help, but from the looks of it I'm positive your doing just fine," Ashley says as she comes in contact with a sick white &amp; black t-shirt, "By the way, do I need to dress... like in a dress for this thing," Ashley says as the two laugh in union.

* * *

_**On the other side of Manhattan, two other opposite-sexual gendered friends talked on about the troublesome's of love.**_

"So me and Victoria are going out for dinner tonight with some of our friends, and I was wondering if you wanted to go," Mark asks Michelle, while the jogging makes his voice shaky.

Michelle turns to him, "I have plans, I'm sorry, but maybe next time," Michelle says as she feels the heavy sweat on her forehead, either because of the jog or because of the lie she just told.

Mark stops and leans against the nearby fence, "Well, I have a friend," Mark says, pausing to catch his breath, "And he is single, I could definitely try setting you two up, I know you'd like him, he's a good guy," Mark says, followed by a long sip of water.

_**"My ex-husband trying to set me up with one of his friends"- Wow! I did not think I would ever get to live that day, but it was happening. Well it wasn't going to happen, because I could never do that to Mark and I don't think I would feel comfortable in that whole situation.**_

Michelle stretches her leg on the bench, "Are you crazy, no," Michelle says loudly to Mark, "Plus, I'll look on my own, but thanks for offering," Michelle says to Mark.

Mark starts jogging slowly again, "If you say so," Mark says. Feeling relieved that she rejected the idea of his, because no normal person would ever want to see their ex with one of their friends.

Michelle follows him, "Wait up," Michelle yells as she starts jogging faster.

_**Mark trying to set me up with one of his friends really hurt my feelings in a way, because I know that no man would want the idea of his ex having 'fun' with one of his own friends... but this definitely showed me how open-minded and over me Mark really was. It inspired me to get out there and look on my own, so that I could get the same sense of understanding as Mark.**_

* * *

_**Blocks away from Central Park, Candice had her own park of problems going on. She and Wade were no longer even living together, for the most part at least; he would make periodical appearances here and there, but it was mostly just Candice and Brooklyn living in that Park Avenue Penthouse. Candice never thought about the idea of Wade fully moving out, but she was about to learn otherwise.**_

"Knock, Knock, It's me baby," The woman sings through the door, with a melody to her tone.

Candice opens the door and stretches her arm in the air, "No way, here come in," Candice exclaims as she makes room for the woman with heavy-plastic work.

_**That's Wade's friend's ex-wife- Although she and Candice were never that close, she knows exactly what mess Candice is going through, so she came to give Candice a head's up.**_

"How ya' doing," The woman says as she throws her _Chanel _purse on Candice's couch, "Okay, so basically, I heard that your husband is looking for another apartment and apparently he's keeping it top-secret," The woman dishes out to clueless Candice.

Candice stops and takes it all in for a moment, "What, are you positive," Candice says, too scared to accept it as the truth.

_**The woman's botox made it too hard for Candice to believe her expressionless face, but it was mostly just Candice's own denial making her a little blind.**_

The woman sticks her hand out, "I am positive, trust me, I'm here to warn you about him possibly throwing you under the bus soon," The woman says flipping her hair to the other side, "I'm so sorry Candice, but I don't want you to fall like I did to my ex-husband," The woman tells Candice.

Candice hated being seen crying, so she simply excused herself to the kitchen.

_**If you can't handle the heat of Candice's anger, then stay out of her kitchen.**_

"That son of a b*tch," Candice yells from the kitchen.

Candice hopes that the woman doesn't follow her in, luckily the woman knows not to, "Okay, well, thank you for notifying me, I don't know what to do, but I'm going to figure it out," Candice says to the woman, but instead of saying anything more, the woman knows to leave.

_**Candice wanted to celebrate her sorrow, alone. But she would never let Wade celebrate a victory against her, a divorce was now what Candice most desired.**_

* * *

_**Strong and Independent women aren't rare to find here in New York, in fact some of the greatest women are able to turn this characteristic on and off whenever they have to. Torrie was one of those women, she knew how to turn it on and off and today she had that switch fully on.**_

Torrie nervously looks up at Brock's staircase; which she walked up and down numerous of times for better reasons in the past. But today, Torrie was going to do what most women would never dream of doing, which was to face your ex and even return any nice gift he ever gave to you.

Torrie slowly walks up step by step, finally reaching the front door, she pauses to look through the bag of luxurious items- Making sure everything is in there, she then proceeds to knock on the door.

_**But one item in particular caught Torrie's eye and heart... The beautiful Pearl Necklace Brock gave to her on their first date.**_

It's too late to take anything out at this point, she already knocked the door. But after waiting for about 20 seconds, Torrie contemplates on whether or not she should keep that piece of treasure.

Another ten seconds go by and Torrie makes up her mind, so she quickly takes the _Tiffany &amp; Co _Pearl Necklace from the bag.

Right in that moment, the door opens and Torrie panics, but she still holds on to that necklace, "Hi, are you looking for Brock," The maid says as she watches Torrie's unnatural and clumsiness in action.

Torrie is relieved, "Oh, no," Torrie says, still holding on to that necklace, but it's stuck to the strap of the bag, "I just came to give this to Brock, so can you please tell him that Torrie Wilson left this for him and please tell him that I don't ever want hear from him," Torrie says, still trying to untangle the necklace from the strap.

She finally untangles it and snatches it, hoping the woman didn't see, but she did, so Torrie try's to play it off.

"Woops, my necklace just fell in here and it got stuck," Torrie explains to the maid.

The maid smiles and pats her on the back, "It's a beautiful piece from the love you once shared with Brock, present or not, love is love," The maid says as she grabs the bag and puts it inside.

The maid then turns back to Torrie, "It's a true beauty, keep it darling," She says to Torrie.

Torrie was somewhat embarrassed, but she walked away with a smile and that gorgeous Pearl Necklace.

_**Torrie never thought about it that way; That the pieces of a past love are still the same pieces of love and love will always be love, but it's the people who maybe ruin that. Not just men, but women too... mostly men though, but agree to disagree if you want to.**_

* * *

_**Later, all us girls met for a quick brunch. We all brought pieces of our emotions with us, the food wasn't filling us up, so instead the emotions were doing that job.**_

Candice sits there with her arms crossed, "I just cannot believe, that Wade would go behind my back and go plan this new life of his, expecting me to stay behind," Candice let's out, keeping a strong face for the women.

Michelle shrugs, "But that's not fair, you were emotionally destroyed and you didn't know about Wade's second life, so he technially has an advantage to this 'who creates a new life for themselves first' race," Michelle says with her hand being used to make the points and with a strawberry on the other hand.

"I know, he's being sneaky and unfair, but I'm not gonna let him win," Candice says, almost yelling the words out.

Michelle can't help, but to feed off of this 'divorce-subject' stamina of Candice, "Well, don't let him, because Mark moved out and on top of that he got a girlfriend with that little deal," Michelle says, almost yelling her words out too, "Do you know what I got; some small apartment filled with memories of Mark and an embarrassing STORY OF CRYING SEX WITH THIS GUY I MET AT THIS EMBARRASSING DESPERATE CLUB," Michelle yells this time.

_**I had to let it all out, all of it, everything I've been through for the past few weeks.**_

Ashley and Torrie stay quite; The two un-married women who have never dealt with this complicated divorce mess would rather appreciate that fact.

But Ashley finally speaks, "Well of course men are going to move on quicker than us, they're less emotional and more stupid," Ashley says, "I mean, the woman simply wants him to show up with a passion... Whereas the man wants her to do him a little favor with the mouth, and I'm not talking about kissing."

The four girls all laugh, finally sharing a laugh that they haven't heard in a long time.

"Yeah and you're forgetting that women simply want the man to be their other half, whereas the man wants the woman to be his puppet and his little 'owned property'," Torrie says, joining in on "This Last Supper Of Men, If Women Had Guns Right Now".

_**I guess we all had to let it all out, all of it, everything we've been through for the past few weeks.**_

Ashley brings her hands together, "Well, unlike you women, I have nothing to tell, so I'm gonna go out hoping to find myself that same 'suicide to the emotions' man," Ashley says, as she get's up from her chair.

"Dolph set up this 'love-booth' for me and I'm hoping to find somebody there," Ashley continues, mocking herself and trying to hold back the laughter.

Michelle gasps, "Well then, Ashley going out to look for love, that's not surprising at all," Michelle says sarcastically, "And in a 'love-booth', hmm. I am too shocked."

Ashley shakes her head, "Okay, I'm only doing it because my mother is having an engagement party, and it was Dolph's idea," Ashley says, repulsed with the idea of her ever chasing love.

"Well tell your mother, I said good luck with that, because marriage is just a mean girl dressed in a pretty dress," Candice exclaims as the women all laugh, especially Candice and Michelle.

Ashley walks off and Torrie simply hopes she has an ounce of hopefulness, "Ashley, if you don't find somebody, you'll be fine because you're a gorgeous strong woman," Torrie yells to her, hoping Ashley heard.

* * *

_**And after getting herself dressed up for "The Special Love Both For Ashley's Needs", Ashley sat through a number of 'special men'.**_

Ashley sits there waiting for the first guy to come through the red mini-curtains, "By the way, Thank you Dolph," Ashley says to Dolph, but he doesn't respond because he's too busy getting a quick count of the men outside the booth.

"Okay, here comes the first one," Dolph exclaims as he watches the good-looking man walk up, "It's looking good Ashley," Dolph says, almost drooling over the man.

Ashley nervously drinks a sip out of her water bottle, "Hello, yes this is my love booth and yes I am Ashley," Ashley try's to confidently say.

The man sits down on the chair, "Cool, cool," The man says with a pause, "You look nothing like you did in your picture," The man says disappointed.

Ashley's eyes widen just hearing that, "Well, Um..., I'm sorry but I don't speak asshole," Ashley says with her feelings already completely hurt.

"Okay, out," Dolph yells to the now-not-so-good-looking man.

_**Ashley still secretly hoped a descent one would come through those curtains.**_

A weird smell suddenly fills the room up, followed by a hippie-looking man, "Hello, you're a pretty chick," The smelly man says with a cocky smile.

Ashley casually covers her nose, "Hi," Ashley says, still wanting to give him a chance.

The man stares at Ashley, "Hey," The man says as he stares at Ashley's water bottle, "Are you gonna recycle that or are you just another idiot who is destroying this earth," The man says to Ashley, calmly and awkwardly.

_**But guy after guy, Ashley has seen enough and apparently they have too...**_

After the other three men that followed, only to get a big fat rejection, including; The arrogant politically opinionated man, The loud bald lawyer, and The guy who could possibly be a serial killer... no more men seemed to walk through those curtains.

Dolph turns to Ashley with a shrug, "I think we should cancel this," Dolph says as he watches the men almost riot in front of the small booth.

Ashley over-hears a few men yelling that this whole 'love booth' thing is "ridiculous" and that "she is too picky".

"Hey, watch the c-words," Dolph yells to one of the men.

Ashley covers her face with her hands, she feels the sweat dripping down from her arm onto the white table, "Get them out of here," Ashley begs to Dolph.

Dolph looks at her with a blank expression, trying to come up with something, "Okay everybody, you were all part of an investigation that is now being cancelled, but if you were looking for sex, then you should probably leave," Dolph yells to the few 15 men in the room and all those 15 men surely dashed right out of there.

"Perfect, except I'm still alone," Ashley says, with her hands on her face again.

* * *

_**And on a more serious note...**_

"I wanted to talk to you about something," Candice says to Brooklyn as she caresses his hair.

Except Brooklyn already knows what this is about, but he'll listen either way.

"Well for the past few years your father has been ignoring me and he would always seem to have places to be at in the evenings if you don't rememeber," Candice says trying to keep her own feelings out of this.

Brooklyn already knew that and he too found it suspicious, but he has a scary feeling of where this might go.

After a long pause, Candice continues, "And a couple of weeks ago, I found out he was cheating on me and he even hit me," the mother says as the tears began to pour down, "I'm telling you this because you're not a little kid anymore and I don't want to leave you in the dark about what's to come for this family in the future."

Brooklyn looks the other way, as the tears rain down on him too, "Okay," Brooklyn says, not wanting to talk about this any further.

_**The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree; Both Candice and Brooklyn were afraid of vulnerbality.**_

Candice notices Brooklyn's uncomftorable behavior; A behavior she's noticed within herself too. So Candice wipes the tears away and she re-adjusts her voice to match the strong face she has had on for far too long, "Me and your father are most likely getting a divorce and I'm hoping that this place will stay with us, but that's all I know as of now," Candice says as she looks around the penthouse her family has shared for almost one long decade, her eye contact then goes back to Brooklyn, "Strangly enough, this is the best for us, your father and I can create our lives again and we can be happy again... seperatly in different paths, the only thing connecting our worlds will be you."

Finally, after the tears dried off, Brooklyn got up from the couch, "I think that a divorce would be a good thing too, for all of us," Brooklyn simply says, but before he walks off, "But don't do that thing where you make up with him and then cancel all of these future plans, only to repeat the same damn cycle, because I will label you stupid if you do do that," Brooklyn madly says, with his real feelings unleashing.

Candice gasps, not expecting that from him- All along she thought he didn't notice that destructful behavior of her's.

Candice shakes her head, strangely enough she is not offended by her son's sharp statement, "This time, it's happening and I will do everything in my power to make it happen," Candice says to her strong son.

_**That's when Candice's mind officially filed for a divorce... but physically, she still needed to take care of that.**_

* * *

_**Torrie on the other hand, had already taken of care handling her physical break-up with Brock, but mentally she was still fighting.**_

Torrie lies on the living room floor, when suddenly Alicia walks in.

"Torrie, What on earth are you doing," Alicia exclaims as she reaches her arm for Torrie to grab.

Torrie is somewhat surprised that she was so busy in her own mind, that she didn't even recognize Alicia's presence in the apartment.

Torrie stays lying down, "I'm not even sure that breaking up with Brock was what I even wanted," Torrie says, still trying to find the mental ending for this past love.

Alicia joins her on the floor, "Well, you're still young," Alicia says as she sits with her legs crossed, "Of course you're not gonna know what you want all of the time."

Torrie sits up, "He made me happy and I loved everything about the real human being part of Brock," Torrie says to Alicia, "But he had this big incredible life and it seems like people just always came between us, it was all too complicated for me!"

**_Torrie already had the reasoning for this mental ending of this past love, but she still didn't have a moment where she could call it "The End"._**

Alicia get's up, "Well there you go, you already know why you broke up with him," Alicia says as she pats Torrie on the knee, "Now, you need to heal yourself and move on."

Torrie gives her a smile and Alicia walks out of the living room.

Torrie turns around and looks out the window, she pulls out the beautiful Pearl Necklace Brock gave to her on their first date and she simply looks at it with the pearls gleaming in her eyes.

**_Was Torrie hanging on to Brock or was Torrie hanging on to the Pearl Necklace?- And by that I mean; Was Torrie hanging on to the man or was Torrie hanging on to the love?_**

* * *

**_I still was holding on to the man and to the love, but a quick solution for that would be to just re-do my apartment and paint my past with new colors._**

Michelle walks with a basket full of a few home-supplies, she struggles with some of the heavier items, but overall she turns her right hand into the man.

Although she knows exactly what she wants for this new rejuvenated apartment of her's, she never hesitates to ask a man questions about this world of 'home improvement &amp; construction' world.

**_But after walking in my fabulous heels, paired off with these fabulous ripped jeans- I learned that a woman can never trust that she'll survive in a man's-dominated world._**

Michelle looks around the aisles and finally a beautiful section of paints of colors wonders her eyes, so she walks towards the aisle.

But right when she makes the turn to walk straight down, the wondrous paint suddenly becomes her worst nightmare.

Michelle sees a big splat of yellow paint coming towards her, she tries to move but it get's her right on the ripped jeans.

"Um, hello, I'm walking hea'," Michelle yells as she throws her hands in the air- Like a True New Yorker!

The blonde man runs to her, "I'm so sorry, I was testing the paint on that canvas and I guess I missed," The panicking man says as he observes the damage, "I'm really sorry!"

_**And suddenly, I was okay with trading my ripped jeans for this handsome man... maybe? But I'm definitely liking his generosity and his face.**_

Michelle shakes the anger off for the man, "It's fine, at least you didn't get the heels," Michelle says as she gives the blonde man a smile.

He smiles back and puts his hand out for a shake, "Well I still feel guilty, so can I help you with whatever it is you want," The man says as he reads Michelle's eyes and what they're telling him is '_Yes'._

The two walk towards the paints and the blonde man even helps Michelle with her shopping basket, "By the way I'm Christian," Christian says as his leads the way to the wall-paints.

"Nice to meet you Christian, I'm Michelle," Michelle says as she follows Christian and while walking she notices that her heels also have a few splats of yellow paint... but she's okay with that.

* * *

_**But a generous and kind man is hard to find here in New York, just ask Ashley.**_

Ashley takes her sunglasses off as she walks in the bar of almost all men.

Ashley sits on the stool, "A Manhattan please," Ashley says to the bartender.

The bartender turns around to mix a drink up for Ashley's lonely needs.

While hopelessly waiting, Ashley calmly sat on the stool as she looked up at the television. When suddenly, a rough man came ramming straight into Ashley's back- Knocking her forwards to the floor.

The fall happens right before Ashley's eyes, "Watch it there," Ashley yells as she sticks her hands out, to avoid hitting her face on the bottom of the bar's counter.

**_Not one bone of Ashley was hurt, but emotionally she was practically paralyzed._**

She's far too embarrassed to pick herself up and the laughter of the man isn't helping at all, but she eventually picks herself up anyways.

Ashley supports her stand with the stool, she turns around to give it to the rude man, but he's no longer there.

The man has disappeared without even apologizing, but the bartender with the alcohol is still there.

He looks at her blankly and Ashley is too embarrassed to stay any longer, so she puts down a 15 dollar bill on the counter.

She then picks up the drink and quickly drinks it down- Trying to wash away the bitter feeling.

* * *

**_Ashley was pissed at New York City and it's men, so right when she got home her browser history consisted of Paris questions and Paris facts- A place she wanted to escape for some time now._**

_'Flights to Paris from New York City,' _Ashley types in the Google search bar, but it soon hits Ashley that her visiting Paris is highly unlikely.

Ashley shakes her head as she backspaces the sentence, but her researching Paris and it's wonders definitely won't hurt her.

Ashley runs her fingers across the computer keyboard and types in; 'NYC_ vs Paris', _Ashley scrolls down as she overwhelmingly looks through the articles.

_**Ashley spent her afternoon in Paris... Not the one located in France, but the one located in her imagination.**_

* * *

**_New York City eventually tires people out and sooner or later, people make a run for it. But I didn't want to be anywhere else, but here, mostly because of this unexpected kind man I met._**

Talking about home-painting soon turned into more than just that; Michelle and Christian shared a conversation with depth of excitement and infatuation.

The two would often touch each other and the flirting was obvious, but the two acted oblivious about it on purpose.

Michelle soon realized that her time was ticking away, "Wow, it's getting late," Michelle says as she looks at the time, "Thank you for helping out, I'm excited to get these paints onto my walls," Michelle exclaims.

Christian smiles and he hands her his phone, "There's my number, just in case you need help painting those walls," Christian says as he stares at Michelle the way every woman dreams of being stared at.

Unknowingly, Michelle excitedly types in the number to her phone, "Okay, got it," Michelle says, catching Christian's dreamy eyes on her.

"Well, I definitely did not expect myself to run into someone like you over here, but it happened," Christian admiringly says as he laughs and waves goodbye.

Michelle stands back and watches him away, she simply smiles and turns around to walk away with a newly re-opened heart.

**_Throughout my whole conversation with Christian, I never stopped to think about Mark for even one short second. Maybe this man I just met was the right guy to help me move on from Mark. _****_This city has it's rough men, which is why they stick to your mind and heart for so long. But every now and then, a different one comes along, one that gives you the confidence in the future of this city's love scene and one that gives you the confidence in your own future of exciting love!_**

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Dolph Ziggler, Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Brooklyn Barrett, Alicia Fox, and Christian.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On May 2, 2015.**


	11. Looking For The New

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 11: Looking For The New**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**After going a whole week without thinking much about Mark, I was finally going to come near that lovable little pill of mine again. I was like a sober person surrounded by alcohol, but if the new love was strong enough to stop me from going back to the old love... then it just might be some good love I found. **_

Mark looks up from his phone as he hears Michelle's voice, "Hey, Michelle," Mark yells as he makes his way towards her.

"Hold Up," Michelle says to Christian through the phone, she turns around and sees Mark waving as he smiles.

Michelle waves back, "Okay, I've got to go, but come over later, okay," Michelle says to Christian as she hangs up the phone.

Michelle locks her apartment door and quickly walks down the flight of stairs, "Hey Mark, what are you doing over here," Michelle exclaims as she gives him a hug.

Mark hands her the warm soft pretzel, "Well I was around the corner, so I thought I'd stop by and visit you, because it's been a while since I last saw you," Mark says with this warm feeling inside of him on this cold morning.

_**And by 'forever', he means 1 week! That's the longest we've gone without seeing each other in the past 5 years, but I guess I didn't notice that until he brought it up.**_

Michelle throws her head back and smiles, "Well, it's good to see you, how have you been," Michelle asks as she takes a bite off the large pretzel.

"I've been good, except for one bitter-sweet thing that recently popped up," Mark says, not going any further to sharing this bitter-sweet news with Michelle.

Michelle turns to him and playfully tugs on his arm, "What is it, Mark you have to tell me now," Michelle says, curious on what this 'bitter-sweet' thing could possibly be.

Mark laughs as he shakes his head, "You'll find out later tonight! Victoria is hosting this dinner party and I wanted to personally invite you to it," Mark says to Michelle, hoping she agrees to go.

Michelle turns her body an inch away, hesitating to actually go, "Ehh, no, I'm sorry, but I had plans tonight," Michelle says, with Christian in mind.

_**But this time, I actually wasn't lying about 'having plans'! Christian and I were planning to hang out tonight.**_

Now Mark found himself tugging on Michelle's arm, "Come on, that's the only reason why I'm not telling you right now! I really want you to go, it'll be nice and it'll really mean a lot if you showed up," Mark says, dropping an ounce or two of guiltiness onto Michelle.

Michelle laughs and finally gives in, "Okay, I'll go, but the news better be good and don't let me get drunk this time or I won't remember this big news of yours," Michelle says as the two laugh; Teasing Mark and referring to the previous party Mark threw where Michelle ended up embarrassingly drunk as a skunk and even ended up sleeping with Mark.

_**I saw how important this obviously was to Mark, so I wanted to go! I already knew what I wanted to wear, but I didn't know if I wanted to bring Christian with me- My ex-husband and hopefully my future boyfriend under one roof is too much for any person too handle.**_

* * *

_**Meanwhile, Candice had to handle both her husband and her future ex-husband... Did I mention that these two were the same person; Wade.**_

Candice runs down the hallway after hearing a loud burst through the front door, "Wade, what are you doing here," Candice yells as she sees Wade rush in past her.

Wade ignores her for a few seconds, while Candice follows after him all the way into their bedroom.

"I came to pick some of my stuff up," Wade explains to her as he opens the walk-in-closet door.

Candice grabs Wade's arm, "Wade, you can't do this," Candice yells to him as she helplessly watches him un-hang his dressing shirts down in such a rush, "You can't leave for two weeks and then come back out of the blue to tell us that you're moving out!"

With or without Candice's hand on him, Wade regardless continued to pack away, "This is just a temporary move Candice, it'll help this family out," Wade further explains to Candice as he throws his clothing into the cardboard box.

Candice let's go of his arm, "That's complete bullsh*t, You just want to build a new life with that mistress of your's and if that fails you'll have this old life to fall back on," Candice cries out as she walks out of the closet, "That's total crap, it's not fair Wade!"

Wade grunts as he continues to pack, "It's not bullsh*t, I'm really trying to save this family and you're not helping," Wade says to her, trying to keep his voice down.

Candice crosses her arms and shakes her head, "Fine then. If you really want to save this family, you'll stop packing right now and you won't move," Candice proposes to him as she sees all the lies and sh*t he's trying to pull off, "I mean it Wade, i'll be pissed off if I come home and your stuff isn't here!"

Wade sarcastically laughed as he waited for Candice to walk out, while Candice rolled her eyes as she walked out.

_**The two had similar plans, but different mindsets- Both Candice and Wade longed to re-build their lives separately, except Wade didn't want Candice to re-build her life separately. Wade wanted to hold her down from ever finding something new.**_

* * *

_**Meanwhile, Ashley felt like New York was holding her down from ever finding anything but disappointments.**_

Ashley walks up the subway staircase, trying to keep a strong grip on her cup of coffee, while the people rush all around her.

She finally reaches the top of the staircase, but two surprisingly slow people block her way, so she shoves them a little and squeezes her way in between them.

But within Ashley's first step on the sidewalk a loud ambulance siren rings right near her ear, which startles Ashley and that's when Ashley's cup of coffee drops on her leg.

Luckily the cup of coffee is only lukewarm, "Ugh, you've got to be kidding me," Ashley yells as she feels the sticky warm coffee drip down her right leg.

_**Regardless of anything, Ashley continued to walk down the violent streets of New York.**_

Ashley turns the corner, when she suddenly makes awkward eye-contact with a younger man, but any New Yorker would ignore any nonsense of that sort.

She continues to walk, but the young man grabs her back with his loud mouth, "Hey, what, do you want me," The black-haired man yells at Ashley as he flaunts his average-looking body, but in his mind he was more than just average.

Ashley sarcastically laughs as she rolls her eyes, "I don't do jerks, but I bet you do! So go jerk it off, you jerk," Ashley yells as the walking crowd of people cheer for her witty comeback.

The man flips Ashley off and the man's blonde girlfriend laughs as he does this, "In case you didn't notice, I have a girlfriend," The brown-eyed man yells as he wraps his arms around his girlfriend's chest, "What are you jealous of her!"

Ashley shakes her head and sarcastically laughs again, this time walking away without giving a response.

"That's right, walk away you loser," The man yells to Ashley, as the young couple laugh at Ashley's pathetic misery.

_**Ashley was fighting the world on her own, except from the inside she was a scared soul.**_

Although humiliated and hurt, Ashley continued to walk with one step ahead and a tear hidden back.

Ashley will hide the tears, but she won't hide the stories, "Come on, Pick up," Ashley says as she waits for Michelle to pick up the phone.

But Michelle doesn't and after two more times of trying to reach her, Michelle just didn't pick up. So Ashley called Candice and again nobody picked up, after that she didn't even bother calling Torrie or Dolph, or anybody for that matter.

Ashley finally sees the brunch place where all four girls planned on meeting that day, but instead of showing up Ashley instead turned around and walked away faster than ever.

_**Ashley ditched the good times for the paranoia she didn't recognize. Little did she know that my phone's battery was dead and little did she know that Candice's phone-line was cut off completely for the month.**_

* * *

_**And at the brunch Ashley missed.**_

"Okay, So I told you guys about the Christian guy I met at the Home Depot place, right," Michelle asks, almost sounding obsessed and possessed with her fast-paced talking. Either way, the two girls nodded yes and Michelle carried on.

"Okay good, anyways, Mark and his girlfriend are throwing this special dinner party tonight and I'm not sure if I should bring Christian or not," Michelle says trying to wrap her mind around tonight, "But here's the thing, we're still not dating or even really seeing each other, If I did bring him to this dinner party, it would technically be our first date," Michelle adds in.

Torrie stops and think about it, "Well, I think you should do it, because you should never shy away from the chances of love and you never know," Torrie says with a smile on her face.

Unlike Torrie, Candice needed no time to stop and think about it, "I surprisingly agree with Torrie, I think you should definitely invite him and show Mark up," Candice sharply responds to Michelle's troubles, "I mean, if Mark has the right to have love in his life, then you should too!"

_**The girls were right and instead of just preparing for a regular dinner party, I now had to prepare for the dinner party where my ex-husband would meet the new 'guy in my life'.**_

Torrie nods in agreement, while Michelle stares at them both, "Okay, well, it looks like I'm all set for tonight," Michelle winks to them as she get's lost in her own imagination.

Candice turns to Torrie, "What about you Torrie, you're always finding love, right," Candice teases Torrie as she waits for Torrie to respond, "No, but seriously, what the hell is going on with you and Brock. I'm surprised you weren't pissed at him and I'm surprised you returned everything he ever gave to you."

Torrie shakes her head, "I was for a few seconds, but I've gotten over the negative feelings and the gifts were easy to get over too," Torrie says, still hiding the fact that she kept the pearl necklace, "Plus we were both in different places in our lives, it was just too complicated!"

Torrie turns to Michelle slowly, "Although, I wouldn't mind being at the same place as Michelle tonight with potential singles," Torrie hints to Michelle, trying to invite herself to this dinner party, "Oh come on, I won't third-wheel you and Christian, I promise" Torrie begs, hoping Michelle invites her.

Michelle snaps out of her day-dream and looks over at dog-eyed Torrie, "Sure, why not. But if anything goes wrong, you'll be my net and that's a deal," Michelle says, turning to see if Candice wants an invite, but Candice signals with a simple shake to her head.

_**I invited her because everybody should have the chance of finding something new and everybody should be part of the party.**_

"I won't be a third-wheel... but I will be the fourth-wheel," Torrie says as she moves happily around in her chair.

Michelle notices Candice's odd behavior, "So, what about you? What's going on with that whole divorce and moving out situation," Michelle asks, knowing it's on Candice's mind.

Torrie calms her inappropriate happiness and turns to Candice, but Candice simply shrugs and doesn't answer.

Michelle looks down and then away, "Okay then," Michelle says under her breathe.

_**I didn't blame Candice's silence in the moment, because letting go of the old is frightening and looking forward to the new is also just as frightening.**_

Luckily, the waitress interrupts the dead silence, "Oh, thank you," Torrie says as she watches the waitress put down the small chocolate slice of souffle.

After a few more seconds of dead silence, Candice finally talks. "It's not that I don't want talk about it, it's just that I don't know what to say about it," Candice blurs out as she puts her hand on her forehead, "I thought I wanted to get a divorce and I thought I wanted to start a new rejuvenated life... but then Wade came back out of nowhere, saying he wants to save this marriage and I just don't know anymore," Candice pleads.

"I can't speak for you, but what I will tell you is that you should do whatever feels right to you, because your life matters too honey," Michelle says to Candice, with a warm supportive smile for Candice.

Candice smiles and simply brushes off the painfully blue subject, "Any who, moving on from this depressing subject," Candice says with a pause for dramatic effect, "I am officially producing my first Broadway musical, I've done a few plays before, but never musicals and it is going to be fabulous," Candice says with an actual excited heart for once!

_**Candice uses her owned Performing Art's Theatre to rent it out for other productions, but the last time she ever produced a play of her own was back in 2007. So her producing this musical is a big deal and it's definitely a way to start something new in her life.**_

Torrie raises her glass of wine, "Here's to Candice's new beginning, with or without husband, Candice shall live fine with wine," Torrie exclaims as all three girls drink down in sync, cheering and rooting for one another.

* * *

_**And over at a much more un-cheerful area, Ashley found herself ready to ditch even her old little apartment-loft in Greenwich Village.**_

Ashley leans on her kitchen counter; Tired of her life that is just a boring rut in this old city.

She looks to her side, where 3 months worth of calender list the upcoming scheduled showings from artists at her art studio in Brooklyn. Which means that she has everything taken care of work-wise, it then also hits Ashley that some of her family members are coming to stay in New York for a couple of weeks and she remembers that they even asked her if she knew of any person renting out their apartment. Therefore, Ashley had everything technically taken care of... she even had the necessary money needed for this 'Sweet Escape Plan' of her's.

_**Ashley found herself daydreaming about this little city with that cute little pointy building, also known as Paris. But even then, Ashley was too scared to get on that plane... even when having everything figured out, she was still unsure.**_

Ashley walks over to her phone, she picks it up and stares at it for a second.

_**But in order to find the new in life, you have to make a move mate.**_

Ashley slowly dials the number to American Airlines, _"American Airlines, how can I help you," _The woman says through the phone.

Ashley freezes for a second, but finally she pushes herself, "Hi, I'd like to book a flight for Paris," Ashley says to the specialist woman.

"I'm looking for an opening flight within the next two weeks," Ashley adds in, listening to the woman as the woman shares the information of the varying ticket options, "Okay, wow that's pricey. But, yeah I'd like to book that one please."

_**To some, all it takes is a little pushing. Now a whole new city was waiting for Ashley, with 'New' written all over it.**_

* * *

_**Others on the other hand, walk into the new. Although their is fear, they walk straight into it.**_

Candice keeps her eyes on the velvet-red curtains as she makes her way down the stairs.

She pauses and finds it crazy that her last performance on any stage was seven long years ago.

"Foxy, Fierce, and Fabulous," Candice excitedly proclaims as she twirls on the stage.

Candice looks around the empty audience seats, trying to get an idea out of nothing for this musical of her's.

_**So Candice spent her next few hours trying to find an inspiration for this new creation of her's.**_

* * *

_**While Candice was getting ready to put on a show, Torrie on the other hand was getting ready to be the show.**_

After getting herself dressed in a formal, but also casual dress, Torrie was ready to mingle with anybody at this dinner party.

Torrie begins to tie the back bow of her heel, when all of a sudden, the phone rings.

She runs to the phone, thinking it's Michelle, with the heel hanging by her ankle as she runs.

"Oh no, this cannot be happening," Torrie utters in complete stress, "Hello, Brock, this isn't a good time," Torrie says, within the first few seconds of picking up the phone.

_"Torrie, I just wanted to properly say goodbye to you. You didn't have to give back everything I ever gave to you, but maybe that was your way of marking an end to our story... well my way of marking an end, is for me to simply tell you that I'll always love you, but I hope you find what you're looking for, goodbye and good luck," _Brock's voice says through the phone as he waits for Torrie's response.

_**And that marked the official mental ending for Torrie, she can now surprisingly say that she is over Brock... although, she's still keeping the pearl necklace.**_

Torrie smiles and finally breaks the silence, "Brock, that all means a lot. Same goes to you, goodbye and good luck," Torrie says one last time to her former lover.

* * *

_**From the Lower East Side to The Greenwich Village, every girl seemed to be picking out a pair of heels for an upcoming event.**_

Sable throws the aqua-blue heels on the couch and then turns to Ashley, "You can wear whatever you want, just bring the heels, every other girl will be wearing them," Sable notifies her daughter.

"Of course mother," Ashley sarcastically says with her arms crossed, "Except I kind of already booked a flight to Paris... unless you plan on having it there."

Sable turns to her and shakes her head, "Ashley, what the hell are you talking about. You, Paris?"

Ashley rolls her eyes, "Yes, me Paris," Ashley proclaims to her mother as she hands her the heels back, "I'm tired of this City, I'm tired of my life in this City!"

Sable gives her the heels again, "Ashley, you can't just leave to Paris our of nowhere," Sable let's out, waiting for an explanation to this absurd idea.

"What are you talking about, I've always wanted to go to Paris," Ashley says as she returns the aqua-blue heels to her mother, "My art studio is all booked up for the next two months and I'm renting this place to aunt Betty, plus I won't be gone for more than one month, I've got it all figured out," Ashley proudly exclaims.

_**Ashley was excited for the upcoming new she'll find in Paris, so she's not apologizing to anybody... especially not to New York.**_

Sable shakes her head and shrugs, "Fine then, but you're being very selfish," Sable says to Ashley, "And are you positive you're going to Paris, France and not Paris, Las Vegas," Sable sarcastically says as she mocks Ashley.

Ashley throws her hands in the air, "I know it's hard to believe that loser little me will be going to magical Paris, France... but you better believe it," Ashley confidently exclaims as she turns to walk away, "Everybody else has exciting lives with love, but never me, I'm always the pathetic loser who everybody pity's, well not this time mother," Ashley rants on about as she exits the living room.

* * *

_**Later that evening, after introducing Christian as my 'friend' to Mark, we both spent that evening getting to know each other better and I am surprised the forks didn't come flying to Christian because he was pulling me in closer as if he were a magnet.**_

Michelle rests her head on her hand as she listens to Christian talking, she too shares, but she only shares what feels safe for her to share.

"Can I tell you something," Michelle asks Christian as she leans in closer, "I kind of have a crush on you, I'm glad I'm getting to know you better because you have a wonderful personality," Michelle flirtatiously tells him.

Christian blushes and puts his hand on Michelle's thigh, "Well I'm flattered and relieved, because I have a crush on you too," Christian says, almost whispering it in Michelle's ear.

Michelle tingles while she feels the sexy warm whispers of Christian go across her ear and down her neck. On the other side of the table, Mark couldn't help but to stare at the two's flirtatious behavior.

_**I'm also surprised that no knives came flying to Christian from Mark's side of the table specifically.**_

Mark watches as Michelle raises her body back to regular sitting position, after a whole evening of not talking to her, he finally opens his mouth to make conversation with her... but nothing comes out of his mouth.

So he plays the awkward notion, by pretending to yawn. But Michelle never noticed, in fact, she never even noticed he was sitting at the table, but Mark sure did.

* * *

**_And at the same dinner-party..._**

Torrie 'accidentally' stumbles into one of the single men of the circle, "Hey, is that drink any good," Torrie asks the man, trying to somehow break the ice.

The man stares at her for a split second, checking Torrie out a little, "I guess so," The man says, turning away, but then turning back to her direction, "So, are you like just trying to talk here or are you one of many looking for a relationship."

Torrie uncomfortably plays with the tips of her blonde hair, "I'm one of the many I guess, being in a relationship isn't necessary in life, but without it, life is just so boring," Torrie explains, well at least explains a small aspect of her logic.

The man runs his hand on the back of his head and shrugs, "Well, I'm not looking for a monogamous relationship. I just enjoy having small flings and of course intercourse, if I'm going to be completely honest with you," The tattooed man tells Torrie.

Torrie gives him a small smile, "Well, one day, you'll change your mind," Torrie insists in the name of love.

The black-haired man raises his eyebrow, "I don't think so, but how about I take you on a date, say sometime next week," The man proposes to Torrie.

Torrie shines a full smile this time, "Okay, but our different views on love might make us clash heads, just so you know," Torrie tells him, without the cheekiness to her tone.

**_Torrie just ran into her biggest nightmare, but instead of turning away like always, Torrie gave this new type of dysfunctional love-situation a shot. The nightmare was Phil Brooks, except he insisted on being called CM Punk and he also insisted on being a non-believer of love... The complete opposite of 'Miss. Always Looking For Love' Torrie Wilson._**

* * *

**_But when it comes to creativity, having nightmares just means you can turn them into meaningful dreams... like Candice._**

After attempting to come up with an idea for the plot of her musical, Candice was ready to go home after the sun had told her it was getting late.

"Just use yourself as an inspiration," The man in the turtle-neck shirt says to worrisome Candice.

Candice turns around to face him, she stares at him with a confused look on her face.

The man continues, "But in order to do that, you have to make yourself believe that you are a strong hero in your own life," The man advises, noticing Candice's confusion.

Candice's confused face slowly fades away, "Who are you," Candice asks him, before even considering taking his advise.

He shrugs, "An actor who survived cancer, if you wanna know," The man in the glasses says, "Just use a story from your life and add a little magic to intensify it a little... but never change the character, also known as you."

Candice smiles and pats the younger man on the arm, "Okay, well thank you, I'll definitely consider that little idea," Candice says as she turns to exit the Theatre room, with no further thought on that 'idea'.

* * *

**_After about two hours of me naming this 'Christian's dinner date', rather than 'Mark's dinner party'... Mark was finally going to steal the night and my thoughts would swing right back to him._**

Mark waits for a few seconds and then finally speaks, "Can I please have your attention," Mark exclaims, as he waits for Victoria to join his side.

He continues, "We invited you all to this dinner party, because Victoria and I wanted to share some big news with you all," Mark says, waiting to collect his words and avoiding any type of overwhelming feelings.

Michelle, along with everybody else in that room waited tentatively for this 'big news' of Mark and Victoria.

**_I guess we human beings only like it when the 'new' in life happens to us, but when it happens to others we care about... we get scared that this might come with change._**

"Our financing company is moving to Texas and they offered both Mark and I great accounting jobs over there," Victoria says excitedly as she let's Mark finish the announcement.

So Mark's carries on with the announcement, "This is the last time we might see a lot of you and we'll miss you all, but at least it'll be a new start for Victoria and I... goodbye New York and hello Texas," Mark announces as he wraps his arm around Victoria.

**_My heart was pounding and you could hear it go from Texas back over here to New York... but I had to keep my mind out of Texas and Mark and instead keep the focus here in New York on Christian._**

Mark reaches in to land a quick kiss on Victoria's lips, while some of the people in the room cheer as they do their kissing.

Michelle gives a quick applaud and then turns back to Christian immediately, "Okay, so where were we again," Michelle says as if nothing Mark said a second ago caught her attention, "Oh right, we were talking about apartment remodeling ideas!"

Torrie is left shocked, not really over Mark's announcement, but over Michelle's odd behavior of not seeming to care one bit... Even Christian finds Michelle's behavior a little odd.

Mark looks over to see how Michelle might be taking the big news, but her back is turned to him and her attention is all on Christian... who has been talking about the 'interesting' shades of olive-green for the past ten minutes.

* * *

**_And what seemed like an ending to some, was just a beginning to others. Candice was digging through the ashes of her broken marriage to look for that shiny gold pen, so that she could start writing the new chapters of her and her son's life._**

Candice walks in to a lonely Brooklyn, who sits on the living room, surrounded by a mess of items on the floor.

"What happened," Candice says as she throws her purse on the floor and rushes over to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn seems fine, although he does move uneasy, he seems fine for the most part, "He's gone," Brooklyn quietly says, not caught up with the speed of the situations.

_**The two kept strong, but they did share the fear and the mixed sense of hopefulness.**_

Candice freezes, but no tears come out and no pain seems to dread the room, "Don't worry, we'll be fine," Candice whispers as she goes to make Brooklyn a fast meal in the kitchen.

"We'll be better off and mommy is even producing a new musical, she's also going back to her old nursery job," Candice says, trying to light up the room a bit.

Brooklyn walks into the kitchen, "Make the musical about what's going on right now, I'd buy a ticket if you did," Brooklyn tells his mother as he helps her with the sandwich.

**_Candice had no idea what the future of her life would look like, but she did know what this musical would look like. And on the next Monday morning; Candice hired an attorney and filed for a divorce later that week._**

* * *

**_I soon learned that people are excited for beginnings, but we are petrified of endings. But aren't endings just beginnings?_**

Michelle walks over to Mark, "We have to go, but thank you for the great dinner party," Michelle says, as she gives him a light hug.

Mark chuckles, "That's it, I mean it's fine, but I thought you would be more 'Michelle' about the fact that I'm leaving," Mark confesses.

Michelle looks down and shakes her head, "Mark, I can't always be thinking about you and I can't always be there holding your hand whenever something big happens to you," Michelle tells him as she feels her heart break too, "This is all great and I wish nothing but the best for you... and that's it, no over-dramatic farewells for me to have to give to you."

Mark stays quite and Michelle hugs him tightly this time, "Goodbye," Michelle whispers as she walks over to Christian and Torrie, who stand there waiting for her.

The two wave to Mark and Michelle joins them to walk away, she looks back one more time and gives Mark a smile.

**_Human beings, you need to stop fearing endings and start knowing that the endings are just beginnings. Without endings you can never receive the exciting new in life. The new in life can be scary at times, but either way it's new and you'll learn from that 'bad new' and you'll make new memories out of the 'good new' too._**

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, Wade Barrett, Brock Lesnar, Sable, Christian, CM Punk, Victoria, and Brooklyn Barrett.**

**Written &amp; Created By~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On May 16, 2015.**


	12. Moving On To Away & Beyond

**New York City Friends**

**Season 1, Episode 12: Moving On To Away &amp; Beyond**

**Starring~ Michelle McCool, Ashley Massaro, Candice Michelle-Barrett, and Torrie Wilson.**

* * *

_**I was living the delusional 'Manhattan Chic-Chick' lifestyle of thinking that finding a handsome blonde man automatically meant that I was moving on from the old. It's been 1 month since I've been seeing Christian and although we're still not dating, it's slowly starting to become something more than just the casual get-together and day by day Mark seems to slowly fade away from my mind and because of that I thought I was truly moving on. But when moving on, Their is always one big key rule and that rule is; If you can face the old and say goodbye to it, face to face, without fearing that it might drag you back from the new... then you can truly claim that you've moved on.**_

The more Christian moved his mouth to talk, the more Michelle became reminiscent on the simple memories of when Mark did his talking with his own mouth. Words that Michelle once loved to hear and she still does love hearing Mark's words, even when they're inconvenient pointless words, they still mean something to her.

Christian notices the absence of the twinkle in Michelle's eyes, "Are you okay, it seems like something is bothering you," Christian asks troublesome Michelle.

Michelle shakes her head and looks away from the window, "Oh no, I'm fine," Michelle claims as the lies over-shadow her fake smile, "Okay, I'm not... I'm sorry, but Mark is leaving in a few days to Texas and I just feel like I can't bring any sort of justice to our history without having a special final farewell," Michelle admits to Christian.

_**And after trying to push it away, I finally came clean with myself and with Christian for that matter... it was like killing two subway rats with one trap.**_

Christian shrugs his shoulders and stays quite for a few seconds, "We're not dating or anything, so it shouldn't bother me," Christian finally says, somewhat disappointed, but definitely won't let Michelle know.

"But I want us to be dating soon, I want to be your girlfriend and I want you to be my boyfriend," Michelle cries out to him while she get's her white coat from the hanger, "But I have to go see Mark right now, I'm sorry and I'm not choosing him over you-"

But before Michelle get's the chance to finish, Christian interrupts her, "It's fine, go, hurry, he's waiting for that proper goodbye," Christian says, noticing how important this 'final farewell' must be to Michelle.

_**Unlike the many others, Christian actually did let my selfishness slide by. But in this instance, I was truly thinking about Christian and Mark too.**_

Michelle gives him a smile, "Thank you for understanding and you can stay here if you want to, I won't be long," Michelle says as she puts on her white coat.

Michelle didn't hesitate to rush out as fast as possible, "_Meet me at the 'Kaffe 1668' as soon as you get this message_," Michelle leaves for Mark on his voice-mail, while she attempts to run down the stair-case in her grey boot-heels.

* * *

_**And not too far away from where I would be heading, Ashley found herself doing the opposite of what I was attempting to do. She would ignore the past and push it behind, without facing it, she would instead head straight to Paris and forget about her old.**_

After doing last-minute packing for Paris, Ashley was finally ready to leave The City for Paris and she was ready for these next few weeks of adventurous France.

But right when she was about to go for the door, her mother Sable called her, but of course Ashley ignored the call... like she has been doing to anybody else who's tried calling her in the past two days.

Ashley carried on, pretending no purposely avoided calls just happened seconds ago, "Well off I go," Ashley says to herself as she walks out of her Greenwich Village apartment, feeling excited but also somewhat guilty.

* * *

_**Later on that same little Village- I would face my old, but instead of having a complicated war, I would simply join 'it' for a peaceful final coffee-date.**_

Michelle looks up as soon as she hears the door open to the small almost-empty coffee place, "Wow, look who showed up," Michelle playfully says to Mark as she laughs, "I'm kidding, here I got you a Cappuccino."

Mark walks over to Michelle, all while keeping a smile on his face, "I'm guessing this is about me moving away," Mark guesses by the panicking voice-mail Michelle left for him minutes ago.

"Of course it is, I was totally going in and out of my head about this," Michelle confesses to her dear friend Mark, "The goodbye I gave to you at the dinner party was so lame and my reaction of not caring was totally inappropriate and fake, I owe this goodbye to the both of us."

Mark holds her hand and chuckles, "Michelle I appreciate that all, but I'm not moving until another six days," Mark informs Michelle's fast-paced mind, "But I'm not going to lie, you did kind of hurt my feelings at that dinner party and I was shocked that you didn't seem to care," Mark admits.

Michelle playfully moves Mark's hand around, "I know, but I didn't want to wait till the last minute and make it overly-dramatic. But I did want to make it at least a little special here at this coffee place, just me and you, with a simple goodbye and zero dramatic goodbyes," Michelle tells him as she takes a sip from her cup of Latte, "Let's just have one last 'normal' friendly coffee date, without making it over-emotional."

"Okay then, so, how is it going with you and that Christian guy," Mark asks Michelle, as he try's to make the coffee get-together as normal as possible.

Michelle smiles and then carries on to telling Mark how amazing Christian really is- Mark wasn't bothered and vise versa- Michelle wasn't bothered when Mark would talk on about Victoria.

_**We both moved on, it took a while, but we both moved on to away &amp; beyond.**_

* * *

_**And speaking of people who have moved on away &amp; beyond from their comfort zones- Torrie was about to give the opposite of her a chance; Someone who apparently didn't believe in monogamy or the wonders of love.**_

Torrie walks down the Upper West Side street, where she's about to meet this 'CM Punk' guy for pizza at _Nick's Pizza._

Torrie watches CM Punk making his way to her from the far end of the other side of the sidewalk; she rolls her eyes while he laughs at Torrie's choice of dressing. He wore a simple jacket and jeans, while Torrie wore a 'somewhat-casual' sparkly blue dress.

"Aren't you a little too dressed up for this pizza shit," CM Punk teases Torrie as he opens the door to the pizza place.

Torrie ignores his comment, "I thought you would at least try with this 'dating thing' and I thought the date would be a little more than just Pizza," Torrie disappointingly admits to Punk, "Let's just get this over with and make it fast," sweet Torrie demands.

CM Punk can't contain his laugh, "Okay, well you're lucky I'm paying, because I don't do this Manhattan expensive sh*t," Punk tells her as he looks over the menu, "What do you want," He asks her.

Torrie walks over to sit down instead of having to stand near him for one more second, "I'll take whatever," Torrie says, regretting this idea of a 'date', "What a douche," Torrie whispers under her breath.

* * *

_**And another woman in The City would also be stepping over her comfort zone, far to a world she'd never imagine breaking into; The world where she no longer is married and the world where she is left being a single mother.**_

Candice's hand shakes as she holds the letter from 'The New York's Court Department', "Oh god, Wade please don't make it hard on me," Candice hopes as she slowly tears the envelop from the top.

"Oh my god," Candice exclaims as she sees Wade's signature of approval on the Affidavit Of Defendant paper... meaning Wade and Candice were officially on terms of Divorce, now it just needed to be finalized.

Candice puts the paper down and oddly feels somewhat fine, although she still occasionally cries herself to sleep... for the most part, she is doing just fine.

* * *

_**Once Candice found the courage and strength to move on, she really did make it happen after all... But Ashley on the other hand, was still too fragile to take such risks without dwelling for days about the chances of her falling.**_

"Ahh," Ashley grunts out to herself, while her nervously uncomfortable stomach just made things worse... And no, she wasn't on her period.

Ashley looks around the busyairport- Watching as the people rush around her, some coming to the dreams that New York holds and others leaving the hard times New York gave them.

It's all too much for Ashley and her bothersome stomach isn't helping one bit, the only thing helping is the fact that her flight doesn't take off for another 40 minutes. So Ashley sits down for a while, reading to take her mind off of this crazy idea she's about to make happen.

* * *

_**Unlike Ashley, Mark was actually saying his goodbye's before he left New York and it's people to start his new chapters. It was a goodbye I was avoiding, but it was obvious that Mark needed it... and I did too for closure.**_

Mark snuggles his hands inside his sweater pockets, "Well I guess this is it," Mark says to Michelle as they stand outside the _Kaffe 1668 _place.

Michelle looks into his eyes, "Yeah, but you'll be fine and so will I," Michelle doubtfully says as the mid-day winds blow her hair dramatically.

"I'm going to miss you and I'm going to miss the memories, we've known each other for far too long to avoid getting emotional over moments like this," Mark explains to Michelle and that part of her she's trying to hide, "Oh and wait, weren't the two of us married once," Mark sarcastically says as he and Michelle break out in laughter.

Michelle playfully punches his arm, "Look, I'm going to miss you too, but I know that the day will come when I'll get to see you again," Michelle says, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Mark takes in the memorable scent of Michelle's hair one last time, "I'm glad we were able to stay friends, because I couldn't imagine my life without you in this city," Mark confesses to his best friend and former wife.

_**My life without Mark in The Big City would be quite boring too, although it did get complicated many times... I wouldn't have had it any other way.**_

"Well that's because I'm fabulous and fun," Michelle playfully says to Mark, "But seriously, I can't either, you've always been there for me and it'll be weird without you," Michelle confesses too.

Mark slightly moves and Michelle lifts her head back up, "Well, I have to go now, these next few days are hectic for me and Victoria," Mark says, showing Michelle one last smile and him mentioning Victoria's name just makes him think about the future he's about to head to.

Michelle smiles back and pulls him in for a hug, also thinking about the future Mark is about to run to, "I'll always love you and yes I mean love," Michelle tells Mark as she kisses him on the cheek.

"I'll always love you too and nobody will ever be able to top this crazy journey we had together," Mark tells his former lover as the two get quick flashbacks of their times together- From the young days they spent messing around, to their married somewhat-mature days, and even the more recent days too.

Mark waves goodbye and then begins to walk away into the far distance, while Michelle proceeds to walk away too.

_**We both knew what we meant when we said that we loved each other. The love I have for Mark will always be there and that love has been explored in many forms, but the form of love I have for him now is the one a person has for a dear friend and the other forms of love I once had for him will always be remembered by me. And watching Mark walk away taught me that it takes a while to move on, but once you get there, the door opens up to a whole new set of chapters. Oh and six days later, Mark and Victoria moved away to Texas, but I didn't visit them on their last day because I had already finished that 'goodbye chapter' the way I wanted to finish it.**_

* * *

_**But that's the thing with love, some people hold it and others don't. Love isn't something you can just spare to anybody and Torrie knew exactly what I was talking about, she was just about ready to push this CM Punk guy away.**_

After having pizza, the two non-daters went walking home and Punk was generous enough to at least walk Torrie back to her Lower East Side apartment, mostly because he also lived near there.

"Why do you look for love by the way," CM Punk asks Torrie as the two walk with about 3 feet between them.

Torrie get's somewhat excited about what might follow after the question, "I don't know, why does the rest of the world look for love. The real question here, is why are you avoiding love," Torrie curiously asks Punk.

Punk looks at her funny, "I just don't see the point in love and I believe love is just a big scam," CM Punk says, bothered with Torrie's desperate needs and her views.

Torrie looks at him in complete shock, "Well, way to be a buzz-kill," Torrie says, ready to go home and call this horrible 'date' over.

"It just annoys me that a woman like you depends so much on a man, it bothers me that you can't be independent and it bothers me that you put that love bullsh*t before everything else," Punk rants on about, without considering Torrie's sensitive feelings.

_**Torrie's a sweet girl, just don't push the wrong buttons...**_

Torrie abruptly stops walking, "This obviously isn't working for you and believe it or not, it's not working for me neither. So have a nice day, because you sure won't have a nice life when you die alone," Torrie yells to CM Punk as she walks away in the opposite direction, "I have great friends, a decent apartment and a good-enough job, but the one thing I don't have is love," Torrie yells to him.

Punk laughs sarcastically and doesn't seem to be bothered, "Okay, bye. Have a nice time saying that you died living your life for some man," CM Punk yells back. Both Torrie and CM Punk walked away angry that day.

_**Either way, Torrie continued looking for love and Punk continued to reject any little bit of love. But this wasn't the last time the two would see each other, because although Torrie couldn't stand CM Punk- Her optimistic single-self was tempted to 'go on dates' with Punk over some of her lonelier Summer nights.**_

* * *

_**Candice on the other hand, was ready to start spending most of her Summer nights planning her new musical production, along with the help of her son and a few other close people... me included.**_

Once Candice got the news that Wade had agreed on a divorce, she carried on to working instead of pausing to cry about such events.

"How's dad gonna be portrayed in this," Brooklyn asks his mother as he goes over the list of characters for the musical.

Candice turns to him slowly, "I don't know, we'll have to see," Candice softly tells him.

Brooklyn puts down the list and looks at Candice, "Are you sure you're not going to make him the worst villain in the history of villains," Brooklyn teases to his mother.

Candice laughs and shakes her head, "No, although he did screw me over one too many... I think he will one day change for the better and I want him to change for the better, because either way he is your father and I don't want you to grow up to hate him or anybody for that matter," Candice tells her son, this time being a hundred percent serious.

"Well I don't, I mean I did and I planned to keep that hate for him... But he's my father I guess and although I hate him at times, I know that I'll always love him and I'll always go back and forgive him," Brooklyn says feeling uncomfortable, but also knowledgeable of the fact that his mother needed to hear that sense of relief in moments where her mothering abilities where in danger now that a father figure was somewhat absent.

_**Using dark emotions against dark events just makes matters worse and Brooklyn knew that, so did his mother, which is why the two stuck to the hopeful light emotions to find the pen and start writing these new chapters.**_

Candice puts her hand over her chest and smiles, "I've raised a great son, hallelujah," Candice exclaims as the two laugh, "But seriously, that's good and I'm glad you're taking this divorce lightly!"

The two carry on with their talking and bonding- Two sincere things they haven't done in a long time.

* * *

_**And somebody else who was going to let go of all the anger was the creator of anger herself- Ashley.**_

Ashley looks at the clock and the clock just ticks away, warning her to start heading over to Paris.

She starts rushing through the people and she notices a trend in these human beings- They're all happy and they're all spending their happiness with all of their loved ones, whether it'd be friends or family or lovers.

_**So before Ashley could make her escape to lovely Paris, she had to do one last thing that was eating her up with guilt... which was to simply leave a little message to the ones that care about her. The message I received from her on my phone made me smile and it made me happy, I can tell you that.**_

Ashley stops and takes her phone out, _"Hey, I'm leaving this message to all of you because I just wanted to tell you all that I love you and that I know you love me too. My paranoia just messed with me a little, but I've come full circle and this is kind of rushed because my flight is about to take off, but until next time, take care you all," _Ashley records and quickly sends to all of her special contacts.

With about 15 minutes left on the clock, Ashley continued to rush, "Please hurry up," Ashley says to the security guard who seems to be taking his time as he scans her.

"Okay go," The security man finally says to Ashley.

Ashley quickly rushes with now only 7 minutes left on the clock, "Oh god, Paris you better be good to me," Ashley exclaims as she runs towards the gates that will open up to new dreams that this independent woman has been waiting for.

_**And the gates did open, for all of us that is. Old gates closed, but newer exciting gates replaced them and that sure makes for exciting future chapters to come...**_

* * *

**Pt. II**

**_On the next Sunday afternoon, Christian and I started painting those new 'gates' for the times that were to follow._**

Christian dips the brush into the grey-coal paint, professionally, unlike clueless Michelle who sometimes even finds herself accidentally dropping the whole brush into the bucket of paint.

Christian concentrated on perfecting the side of the wall where the living room windows were, when he suddenly noticed Michelle's clumsiness.

"Are you okay there," Christian teases Michelle with a chuckle, "Here, let me help you."

He stands behind Michelle and softly places his hand on top of her's, from there the rest was history as they stroked the brush through the walls.

**_Christian definitely helped me, in ways I can't explain... and I'm not talking about the painting of the walls._**

Christian let's go of Michelle's hand and watches as she get's the hang of the maneuver, "Perfect," Christian whispers.

A magical feeling dances inside of Michelle, one that tells her that she is falling for this Christian man and the little dance pushes her to go for it.

**_I had to make him my boyfriend, now that Mark was gone, I could finally fully give him my heart. Plus, I wasn't sure I would find another person like him and god knew that I definitely needed someone to lean on._**

She can't hold it in any longer, her heart is practically beating through that small apartment, "Can I just tell you that you are the most nicest and most secure man I've ever met, especially in this city and I think that's just great and definitely what every woman dreams of finding... especially in a boyfriend. Look I'm getting older and my ex-husband and best friend just left me, I am getting scared that I will die alone and if I do, I at least want to say that I didn't have any regrets, so I'm not going to pass the chance of making you my boyfriend because for the first time since my divorce I finally feel like I've found that great man that can lift me back up," Michelle opens up to Christian about the fears she held after her divorce and the fears she still holds within her hidden self.

Christian doesn't respond with words, but he instead responds by pulling her in for a long-overdue kiss.

_**Christian helped me believe in love again, he gave me hope that love still existed out there.**_

"Let me just paint this last wall and I promise to take my new girlfriend to dinner," Christian playfully says as he gives Michelle a cheeky smile.

* * *

_**Torrie never needed anybody to make her believe in love, she just needed somebody to show her love. She's always believed in love with the help of the hope she's kept, even when constantly being knocked in and out of it.**_

Torrie stretches her leg out and get's warmed up for the Yoga session, when she suddenly comes across the only man at that entire Yoga class.

The brown-haired man happened to be staring at Torrie already anyways, "You know, it's refreshing to see a man doing some Yoga," Torrie tells him as she continues to stretch her leg on the purple mat.

The green-eyed slim man laughs, "Oh, right, well what can I say, I'm a heterosexual man who happens to do Yoga," The man jokes to Torrie as the two laugh.

The introduction was good enough, but the man was about to screw it up, "You know, I live pretty close to here... if you'd maybe like to go over to my place for a little 'fun'," The brown-haired man continues with a wink, thinking he can flatter Torrie into accompanying him.

**_Torrie was looking for love blindly, this would be an example, but she wasn't stupid. In no sane world, would anybody ditch the beauty of Central Park for the dirtiness of a random man._**

Torrie awkwardly smiles and get's up, "Pardon me," Torrie says to the man as she makes her way to the opposite far end of the grassy Yoga glass.

Torrie was perfectly fine with not having to spend every second of her life looking for love, she was perfectly fine enjoying a hobby like Yoga surrounded by beautiful springtime Cherry Blossoms at her side... although a big part of her still wanted to find it.

* * *

**_And not too far away from Central Park- Another independent woman was worrying about everything, except men and the silliness of love. Candice was far too busy with her workload and her son._**

"I'm excited to tell you that the copyrighting office has officially copyrighted _'Foxy, Fierce, and Fabulous' _to your name and I'm finding Theatre production companies to finance your musical, oh and I'm close to getting you a union crew too," Candice's 'sister-director' notify's her through the phone.

Brooklyn jumps up before Candice even get's the chance to, "My son is freaking out right now! Gosh this is all such great news," Candice happily exclaims, while a giant weight of stress falls off of Candice's shoulders.

Although a lot of the stress was slowly wearing off, the fresh tears still had to come falling, especially after all of these past cold weeks Candice has been experiencing.

"I'm sorry, this is just too over-whelming, everything is just happening so fast," Candice cries out to her sister through the phone.

**_Candice had a rare case of tear-mix; A mixture of both gloomy-tears and tears of joy, it's a rare experience, but it happens and it doesn't mean one is emotionally unstable._**

Brooklyn awkwardly takes his excitement down a notch and Candice's sister, who's on the phone, also didn't expect these sudden tears.

_"You'll do great. I've known you for my entire life and I know that you are a strong woman, who can survive and you will, do you hear me," _Candice's sister reminds Candice in such blue &amp; dark hours like this.

Candice shakes her head and wipes the tears away, "I'm just left so rattled and fragile," Candice admits to both her sister and her son, "But i'll find my way."

* * *

**_After nine hours of Ashley being stuck on a plane, stuck with her doubts and unanswered questions, Ashley was finally about to taste the magic she's been waiting for so long at 9:00 P.M. Paris Time._**

Although Ashley was wearing her sweatpants, instead of a movie-like glamorous dress, her signature New York black coat topped it off and her excited bright smile stole the show.

Ashley's eyes have never been wider; trying to take every single detail in, without missing even the slightest of things on that breath-taking night.

Along with her eyes, her ears were opened up pretty good too, so the arguing couple walking inches away from her really rang a bell of relief to her single self.

The woman cries and the man yells, this little dance-number is repeated several times ironically, by many other couples in the city of romance.

**_Ashley has never been more thankful to the fact that she was a single thirty-five year old woman, who happened to be walking on the land of romance alone._**

She takes a few more steps and the winds blow her hair freely in the French sky's, reminding her of the independent freedom she has within herself.

But the exact moment in which Ashley felt the most inspired, was when she came face to face with the iconic bright and glowing Eiffel Tower.

_**Qu'elle était une femme libre et indépendante qui a été inspiré.**_

The light's of the Eiffel Tower glowed in Ashley's hopeful and daring eyes as she continued to drag her luggage through the night in which practically felt surreal to her.

* * *

**_Six hours back and across the globe, the same breed of independent women met up at my New York apartment for a little celebratory drinking._**

"Ahh, guess who brought cheesecake over," Torrie exclaims as she walks inside Michelle's newly-painted apartment.

"Well, I brought wine and that makes for a perfect combo honey," Candice exclaims too as she follows Torrie inside the apartment.

Michelle closes the door behind them and the three enjoy a moment of just them women, with the zero need of men at that very fun hour.

Michelle runs over to her phone and plays the iconic feminist theme of _'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun' _by _Cyndi Lauper._

Torrie throws her hands in the air and begins to move them the way she does with her adventurous heart, whereas Candice simply shakes her head at the cheesiness of it all, but nonetheless she too joins in to move a little to the groovin'.

**_It was a moment where we could just forget about the world and it's troubles._**

"I have the perfect movie, _Moonstruck, _duh," Michelle exclaims as she pulls out the movie.

Torrie sits on the couch and Candice joins, "Love don't make things nice, it ruins everything," Torrie quotes from the movie she's watched with the girls over a hundred times.

Both Candice and Michelle stare at her with a shocked expression, not believing for a second that Torrie would actually ever bad-mouth the essence of love, "Okay, I was only quoting and for your information, I am capable of just sitting down without having the need to look for love. Which by the way, I'm starting to get better at, after all... I don't want to come off desperate, do I?" Torrie tells them as they all laugh.

**_Except, for that whole summer, Torrie spent her days; Having Fun, Working, and looking for Love. Although, she didn't find that 'one love', she did find fun. She would helplessly look for love, but it would never go the way she wanted it to go... so for the most part, her version of love was to simply enjoy a summer afternoon with either us girls or with her 'non-believer of love' friend CM Punk, who happened to live on the same block as Torrie, but a kiss was never promised._**

"Oh please, who cares what men think," Candice says in Torrie's defense as she takes a sip of the wine, "It's all about us, because honey we are fabulous and our lives might get complicated, but at the end of the day we make miracles, so cheers to my divorced-self and cheers to women everywhere!"

**_Candice definitely made the summer all about herself and her son Brooklyn, with zero time to spare to any man. Candice spent her summer nights working on her musical and it was a great way to bond with her son, she also got the opportunity to bond with many other kids at her nursing job at the Lower Manhattan Hospital. Later that August, Candice's divorce was finalized, but she unfortunately had to fight for custody of Brooklyn with Wade... but either way, she stayed fabulous!_**

"Speaking of women everywhere, let's include Europe honey," Candice adds in, referring to Ashley.

Michelle and Torrie raise another glass of wine up high in the air, "Cheers to Ashley! Who never notices her own value, because trust me, the girl holds a magical touch to her and let's just hope Paris keeps up with her," Michelle exclaims, followed by a drink of sweet wine.

_**Ashley spent one month in Paris, where she was lucky enough to spend her 36th birthday. And according to Ashley, she met a fun and amazing French man... but he wasn't everything Ashley wanted, because the independent woman wasn't settling for less. Later in July, Ashley would return to New York and she came back with a stronger &amp; new mindset. The angry fire she had within herself was still there, but she learned how to forgive easier and although she still had her insecurities, she soon learned to let go of some of that paranoia.**_

Torrie looks around at the newly-painted charcoal living-room walls, "Can we just acknowledge Michelle's amazing new walls," Torrie exclaims as she runs over to feel them.

"Speaking of that, Can I just tell you guys about my new amazing boyfriend," Michelle cheekily plays around with them, but she soon found herself going on and on about Christian's sweetness, but the girls didn't mind and Michelle sure didn't mind Christian being the one to take Mark's place in her heart.

**_As for me, well I couldn't have had my Summer nights go more wonderful than how they did. Christian and I were going smooth, but my friends and I were going hard on that nightlife. But the hardest part was letting go- I would occasionally talk to Mark on the phone, but by August we had completely lost touch of each other. Christian and the girls helped make the letting go part easier, but for the most part it took me and myself to let go and move on to away &amp; beyond. _**

**_In fact, all us girls were moving on to away &amp; beyond. Here's to the next chapters..._**

* * *

**Special Guest Stars~ Christian, Mark 'Undertaker' Calaway, CM Punk, and Brooklyn Barrett.**

**Written &amp; Created by~ Jonathan N.**

**Published On May 24, 2015.**

**Author's Note~ Thank you to all who read along, it really meant a lot, especially if you believed in the story like I did. My intentions with these little stories were to simply write them out for my own purposes, but the people that joined along for the ride are deeply appreciated (Giving a shout-out to other fellow-writer's; 'CreativeWritingSoul' and/or others who gave this idea(s) of mine a chance!) I really wanted to tell the several different stories of these very different girls and I hope to continue doing that in the future, until next time, hopefully for more!**


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